When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves the UK after attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this month, the Indian community wants him to take a message with him — one of ‘Educate the Boy Child to Save the Girl Child.’
Indian Ladies in the UK (ILUK), one of UK’s largest Indian community group, is all set to present Modi with a “Treasure Box” filled with messages from Indian women in the UK about the need to empower the girl child by educating her brothers and other males around her, reported Indian News agency ANI.
The group also plans to get the slogan #BetaPadhaoBetiBachao trending during Modi’s visit to the UK.
“India is the most dynamic and most talked-about country in the world right now,” Poonam Joshi, founder and executive director of ILUK said. “There is so much hope and potential for the future of our country. And yet, the global discourse about India is dominated by stories of oppression against women and minorities. We believe the only way to change that conversation is by promoting education, specifically the education of our boys.
“As a mother of three boys, there is no greater duty for me than to educate my sons not just to have amazing jobs in the future but to respect and empathise with their female counterparts. I was born and raised in India so I understand the inequality that has become second nature for us — not just on the part of men but the women who turn a blind eye to inequality,” she said.
Joshi also pointed out that inequality will end only if efforts are made back home in India.
“It is imperative for all of India’s mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters to stop passing on the stigma of inequality and injustice to our boys and start educating them from when they are toddlers that a better world is possible if they treat their female counterparts with generosity, empathy and equality.”
The group will organise a colourful flash mob at 10 Downing Street to welcome Modi.
