The Bharat Jodo Yatra on Tuesday lent its voice to the cause of women’s safety, with hundreds of people walking with placards that read: “BJP se Beti Bachao”.

This was planned all of a sudden with the Youth Congress and the Mahila Congress deciding to highlight the menacing trend of crimes against women after the murder of a young receptionist in Uttarakhand triggered outrage.

The Bharat Jodo Yatris walked with these placards while Rahul Gandhi sent a firm message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Prime Minister’s slogan — Beti Bachao. BJP’s action: Balatkari Bachao. This is India’s first Prime Minister whose legacy will be hollow speeches. His governance is dedicated to criminals. India will not remain silent now,” Rahul tweeted.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “Every step taken by the padyatris this evening during the Bharat Jodo Yatra was dedicated to the issue of continued atrocities on girls and young women. The latest being the horrific case… in Uttarakhand. Earlier, there was a travesty of justice in the case of Bilkis Bano. The murder of a daughter of India by a BJP leader’s son is intolerable and unacceptable. We walk in protest at the Bharat Jodo Yatra….”

Later, addressing a huge gathering on the completion of the day’s walk, Rahul asked the audience to stand in silence for one minute to send a message to the BJP that “we are not going to allow you to treat our women in this manner, no matter how powerful and rich you are”.

Declaring that this issue is the most important for him, he said: “A country that cannot respect and empower its women cannot achieve anything.”

Rahul said: “The RSS-BJP treats women as objects, as second-class citizens. If a girl is molested, many times their leaders will say it is because of her dress. The most shameful and disgusting example is what happened in Uttarakhand. A BJP leader’s son who ran a hotel was forcing a girl to become a prostitute. Imagine a leader’s son is forcing a woman to become a prostitute!”

He added: “There are messages on WhatsApp that she refused to become a prostitute. When she refused, she was found dead in a canal. That’s the way the BJP treats women. And who took action first? The people were forced to take action.”

Expressing outrage, Rahul said: “This is the ideology of the RSS-BJP. And India can never succeed with this ideology because the greatest strength of India is its women. The BJP respects nothing except power. They can do anything to come to power. And once they come to power, they can do anything to remain in power.”