A day after Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan made the sensational claim that the village volunteer system in Andhra Pradesh was being used to aid human trafficking by targeting women who live alone, the state Women’s Commission has issued a notice asking him to furnish proof for his “panic-inducing” statements within 10 days. Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan made the statement while speaking at a public meeting in Eluru on Sunday, July 9.
Launching a tirade against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government Pawan Kalyan claimed that senior officials from central surveillance agencies had told him that village volunteers in Andhra Pradesh were surveilling residents and targeting women living alone, to hand them over to anti-social forces who were kidnapping them. He also claimed that senior leaders from the YSRCP government were involved in the alleged trafficking network.
Criticising the YSRCP government over various issues including women’s safety, Pawan Kalyan said, “According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, around 29,000 to 30,000 women had gone missing and only 14,000 of them were traced. Where are the remaining 17,000 to 18,000 missing women?” It is unclear which figures he was referring to, as they don’t match state or national data.
As per NCRB data for 2021, in Andhra Pradesh, 2,981 minor girls went missing in 2021, and 2,884 were traced, while 474 remained untraced (including the girls who were missing from previous years).
When it comes to adult women, 10,085 of them were reported missing in 2021 and 9,616 were traced. A total of 2,711 women remained untraced in the state, including women reported missing in previous years.
The remarks have also angered many village volunteers who held protests against Pawan Kalyan on Monday at several district Collectorates. The village and ward volunteer system was launched by the YSRCP government in 2019 to carry out last-mile governance. Over 2.5 lakh village and ward volunteers were appointed to act as the points of access for welfare schemes. They perform various activities on behalf of the state government including door delivery of pensions and household-level data collection.
Right after citing figures of missing women, Pawan Kalyan said, “When I asked about the missing women, senior officers from central surveillance agencies told me that YSRCP volunteers are carrying out surveillance in the state. Each volunteer checks how many households there are, how many men and women, who supports which party etc. They target women living alone and give that information to certain antisocial forces, who kidnap or trap them, and that’s how all these women went missing. Human trafficking is going on because of their information [gathered by volunteers], and senior leaders from the YSRCP government also have a role in this. Central surveillance forces told me this and asked me to inform the people of Andhra Pradesh — the youngsters, women, everyone.” He then addressed CM Jagan and said, “Jagan, you are harbouring the ill will of so many people, see what will happen to you.”
In response to these remarks, the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission served a notice to Pawan Kalyan asking him to furnish proof of his claims within 10 days. “What’s the evidence for your comments, which can cause fear about women’s safety in society? Your remarks violate the dignity of single women. What are the figures that the Union government provided you regarding women handed over through village volunteers to antisocial forces? What proof did they show? Are you making such baseless statements that can create panic among women just for (playing) politics?” the notice asked.