Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed a women-only programme in Uttar Pradesh, claimed he had the “blessings of mothers and sisters”, transferred money to bank accounts of women and underlined the BJP government’s schemes for them.

The move comes at a time Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has made women the centrepiece of her campaign in the election-bound state, pledged to reserve 40 per cent seats for them in next year’s polls and promised various other sops, while also highlighting Uttar Pradesh’s dismal record on women’s safety under the BJP government.

Against the backdrop of the enthusiasm among women around Priyanka’s robustly attended rallies, where the slogan “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I am a girl and I can fight)” has been ringing loud, Modi addressed a women-only gathering at Allahabad, his first such gesture during his multiple visits to the state.

The Modi government has often faced allegations of not focusing enough on women and also displaying a brand of machismo perceived as offensive by women, reinforced not least by the Prime Minister’s “Didi o didi” taunt of Mamata Banerjee during the Bengal Assembly elections earlier this year. Modi said at the state government programme in Allahabad: “Mothers, sisters and daughters have decided that they wouldn’t let the past (governments) return. The current Uttar Pradesh government has given them respect and honour.”

“I have the blessings of mothers and sisters; nobody can push the ‘new Uttar Pradesh’ back to the dark age,” he added. Modi transferred funds to the bank accounts of women beneficiaries of one or the other government scheme of the Yogi Adityanath government. He symbolically transferred amounts between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.10 lakh to the bank accounts of each of the 1.2 lakh self-help groups in the state. A total of Rs 1,000 crore was transferred.

Congress general-secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

This is the first time the state government, which says there are 16 lakh members of such groups in Uttar Pradesh, has made a direct bank transfer to them.

Money was also transferred to the beneficiaries of the Kanya Sumangala Yojana, under which amounts between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 are given to girls. Banking Sakhis, who help people with their banking needs in rural areas, were given their first stipend of Rs 4,000 under a new scheme.

Underlining the government’s “commitment” to women, Modi referred to the decision to raise the marriageable age to 21. He claimed that the Adityanath government believed in “sachha (true) empowerment of women”, that it had ensured security, rights and opportunities for them and also wiped out the mafia whose “worst sufferers were our sisters and daughters”.

While the state government and the BJP had claimed that there would be three lakh women at the Parade Ground, a police officer said 40,000 chairs had been laid and around 60,000 women attended Modi’s event.

Women from across the sprawling state had been brought to Allahabad and were put up in around 60 schools in and around town.

Modi has visited Uttar Pradesh six times in the past two months but this was the first time his focus was on women, a move that is believed to have been prompted by Priyanka’s campaign.

The Congress general secretary has been drawing huge crowds of women at her rallies ever since she declared that 40 per cent of election tickets would be set aside for them in Uttar Pradesh. She has also promised government jobs, smartphones, scooties and other benefits for women should the Congress come to power. Priyanka recently released a separate women’s manifesto of the party for the Uttar Pradesh elections before the release of the general manifesto.

Priyanka tweeted after Modi’s rally: “The women of UP, you see! You were galvanised and Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowed before you…. The unity of the sisters will bring revolution.”

She has been trying to connect with women with the catchphrase “nari shakti (women’s power)” and the slogan “Ladki hun lad sakti hun (I am a girl and I can resist)”.

Priyanka has also drawn attention to Uttar Pradesh’s abysmal performance in women’s safety.

The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau says that Uttar Pradesh accounted for 59,853 crimes against women in 2019, which was 14 per cent of the national total. As many as 7,444 cases had been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in Uttar Pradesh, the highest in the country in 2019. The state topped in dowry cases as well — 2,410.

According to the Election Commission, there are 6.67 crore women voters in Uttar Pradesh out of a total of 14 crore. Of them, 50 per cent women had exercised their franchise in the 2002 Assembly elections, 43 per cent in the 2007 state polls and 60 per cent in the 2012 elections. The figure was 64 per cent in 2017.

Priyanka has been meeting women in Uttar Pradesh almost everyday and reminding them of their importance in a family and the society, while seeking their support to “dislodge Modi, who is responsible for rising prices of essential commodities”.

Ajay Kumar Lallu, the state Congress president, asserted on Tuesday that women had decided to support the party under Priyanka in the state.

“Modi is anxious after realising that women have stopped trusting him after he allowed capitalists to create inflation in the country. The prices of domestic gas, food grain and vegetables are going up every day. Modi is unbearable for anybody,” Lallu said.