India, Dec. 11 -- Speaking at The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath emphasised the vast improvement in the law and order situation in his state. This achievement is there for all to see. It is not obfuscated by malleable statistics or debate, the evidence is visible in the lives that women and girls are embracing in a safer Uttar Pradesh.

Before Yogi government took office, there was a particularly dark "joke" that used to do the rounds - "even Yamraj, the god of death, was scared to step out after dark". This misplaced sense of humour was a dig at the helplessness that women felt, and a silent rage against the system that abetted this environment. Like all humour, it revealed an emb...