Meghalaya election: Free sanitary napkins for women if voted to power, says Mahila Congress

Shillong: All India Congress Committee Mahila president Sushmita Dev said the party will provide free sanitary napkins to women in Meghalaya if voted to power in the February 27 Assembly elections. Dev said she had urged the Centre and the finance minister to exempt GST on sanitary napkins. "If the price is subsidised, it becomes a product that is affordable in the rural market, so private companies take it there," she said on Monday. Dev claimed the BJP will not win a single seat in Meghalaya, and its similar promise of free sanitary napkins will not happen. She accused the saffron party of not being serious about the security of women. "After the (2012) Nirbhaya case, we changed a lot of laws, but the recent NCRB data shows crime against women has still gone up," she said, adding that 60 per cent of the Nirbhaya fund was lying "unused". Dev also took a jibe at Union Minister Smriti Irani who campaigned here on Saturday. "We need to ask a lot of questions on the leaders of the BJP who are coming to Meghalaya and talking about the security of women," she added.