The BJP on Thursday doubled down on its attack on Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi over alleged “misconduct” with a woman police officer during a protest in the Indian capital.
Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Gandhi raises the “Smash The Patriarchy” slogan yet “misbehaves” with women police officers, reports NDTV.
The allegation centres on a video Bhatia played at a press conference.
It shows Gandhi pushing a woman officer near Jantar Mantar as police tried to remove a woman protester from a sit-in on Delhi’s Ashoka Road.
Opposition MPs from the INDIA bloc staged the sit-in on October 7 to raise the issue of “vote chori” and to seek the ouster of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The MPs had wanted to hold their protest at Jantar Mantar, but police stopped them at a roundabout on Ashoka Road, and the leaders were detained later.
The sit-in came a day after an eight-hour dharna held to press for a meeting with the election commissioners.
The footage Bhatia showed is from the same protest.
“How can a male leader touch a woman police officer in a wrong way? Women police officers have the right to dignity same as the women protesters,” Bhatia said.
Calling Gandhi’s conduct “shameful”, he said it amounted to “violating the dignity of the woman cop”.
“Is this Rahul Gandhi’s character?” he asked.
Bhatia also criticised the Leader of the Opposition for his silence on the video.
“There has been no explanation till now from Rahul Gandhi or the Congress party. Smash the Patriarchy has been reduced to a mere slogan by the Congress,” he said.
The BJP leader further asked why Gandhi pushed the officer himself rather than asking the women leaders at the protest to engage with her.
“Why didn’t he let women Congress leaders deal with the woman police officer? Shows that Gandhi doesn’t respect women,” Bhatia added.
He also played another video showing Priyanka Gandhi in a scuffle with a woman police officer during a protest.
“Priyanka Gandhi pushed a woman police officer while being protected by her security personnel. Do only women of the Gandhi family deserve to be treated with dignity?” he asked.
