Politicians Turn Blind Eye To Voteless Vrindavan Widows

VRINDAVAN: Most of them have been abandoned by their families but the over 10,000 widows in this city of Lord Krishna have also been abandoned by the country's electoral process as they do not have voting rights here.

Living in pitiable conditions as one can find them begging on the streets or waiting for meals outside ashrams, these hapless women want that the political candidates should come and see their conditions and let them have a say in the election process.

Manju Roy, who lives in the government ashram, was waiting for her turn to get some rice and dal outside Radhe Shyam Ashram at 8 A.M.

When she came to know that Hema Malini is contesting elections from Mathura, she wanted the actress to come and see their plight.

"Hema Malini is a big star. Please tell her to visit us and see how we live. We want to vote but who will arrange voter IDs for us," Ms Roy says.

"We somehow managed to get Aadhar cards for some of them so that they can avail benefits like widow pension but none of them have voter identity cards," Santosh Chaturvedi, the manager of Maitri ashram, told PTI. (India Votes: Candidates | Schedule)

According to Maitri ashram, there are over 10,000 widows living in Vrindavan and most of them are from West Bengal.
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