Thousands of people across the eight districts of Tripura hit the street here on Friday in response to a call by ruling BJP MLA and ousted minister Sudip Roy Barman to protest crimes against women.

Speaking to reporters near Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan here, Roy Barman said, “The crimes against women including rape, molestation, dowry death and abuse in many forms have become a matter of concern in the country and the state is not also free from the menace. This apolitical rally which I have called today is to spread the message that we are united against those who commit crimes against women. This rally is just to take a resolution to reduce crimes that are being perpetrated upon women across the nation, including our state,” Barman said.

Talking about the speculation over the apolitical rally, Barman said, “Let those who want to speculate do as they like. Our intention was clear as I am a father of two daughters and I can see the pain and agony that disturbs them when they read the newspapers and television or social media.”

“A large number of daughters and their parents came here to raise their voice against crimes on women. If I can change at least one per cent, then that would be the success. I don’t bother who is happy or not happy with me. I don’t want to get involved in cheap statistics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for zero tolerance on crimes against women,” Barman told reporters.

Quoting data from the crime report bureau, Roy Barman said in the past 16 years, 4,16,000 women were raped in the country.

More than 8,000 people took to the streets to create awareness among the people. Ruling MLA Ashish Kumar Saha also joined the rally on Friday afternoon. He reiterated that his programme was completely apolitical.

Roy Barman said he was amazed at the response of the people.