New Delhi: Union Minister Smriti Irani lashed out on Friday at Rahul Gandhi for his remark ‘Rape in India’ on Friday and called it deplorable that he should play politics on rape, and asked his mother Congress President Sonia Gandhi to advise and guide him.
She demanded an strong action against the former Congress chief and not just an apology.
Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, while addressing an election rally in Jharkhand took a jibe on the Prime Minister’s pet project ‘Make in India’ and said: “Earlier it was ‘make in India’, but now it is rape in India”.
Speaking to the media outside the Parliament, Irani said how could the Congress leader stoop to such extent as to mean something like “inviting men to India to rape”.
Lashing out at Rahul inside the Lok Sabha, Irani said: “This is the first time in the history of India that a man from Gandhi family has the audacity to insult women and call for their rape.
“This is the first time in the history of India that a leader is giving loud call that Indian women should be raped. Does he mean that all men in India want to rape women? Is this Rahul Gandhi’s message to the people of the country?”
The Minister along with other MPs in the lower House, asked for an apology from Rahul Gandhi. There was rage and fury as she attcaked the Congress. She said: “Rahul Gandhi should be punished for mocking his political opponant and calling ‘Come, rape in India.”
“Women are no one’s personal property and he should know that if someone evokes for their rape, women know how to give a fitting reply.”
Countering DMK MP Kanimozhi’s answer to the Chair that the statement was made “outside the Parliament” the minister said that raising voice against crime against women is the least that a parliamentarian can do.
“I am so disheartened that being a woman you (Kanimozhi) cannot come across the party line and raise your voice on crime against women.”
The incident was followed by a tweet from the BJP official twitter handle: “After everything fails, Rahul Gandhi is back to insulting and denigrating India! It is crass and insensitive to politicise a heinous crime like rape. But what else can we expect of Gandhi scion…”
Prasanta Patnaik