Rahul Gandhi Says 'Ploy To Divert Attention From Citizenship Bill Protests' After Lok Sabha Ruckus On 'Rape' Remarks

Before the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the Winter Session on Friday, a huge ruckus ensued in Parliament with BJP MPs seeking an apology for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ’s remarks on rape at a Jharkhand rally. 

As the BJP demanded an apology, Gandhi said he would not apologise. 

Union minister Smriti Irani said in the Lok Sabha, “This is first time in history that a leader is giving a clarion call that Indian women should be raped. Is this Rahul Gandhi’s message to the people of the country?”

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Meanwhile, BJP MP from West Bengal, Locket Chatterji alleged, “Modi ji said ‘Make in India’ but Rahul ji said ‘rape in India’, he is welcoming everybody that come and rape us... this is an insult to Indian women and to Bharat Mata.” 

Gandhi had said in a rally in Jharkhad, “Narendra Modi had said ‘Make in India’ but nowadays wherever you look, it is ‘Rape in India’. In Uttar Pradesh Narendra Modi’s MLA raped a woman, then she met with an accident but Narendra Modi did not utter a word.”

While DMK MP Kanimozhi tried to explain to the BJP that Gandhi did not “invite” people to rape women in India, she was shouted down by the treasury benches. 

Meanwhile Gandhi has said that this was BJP’s ploy to divert attention from the protests in the north east. 

News18 quoted Gandhi as saying, “This is merely an excuse for the government to divert attention from the main issue in front of us right now - the citizenship law and nothing else.” 

ANI quoted him as saying, “I have a clip on my phone in which Narendra Modi ji is calling Delhi a ‘rape capital’, will tweet it so that everyone can see. Just to deflect attention from protests in North East, this is being made an issue by BJP.”

Several states of the north east have seen massive protests over the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament. Two people have been killed even as an indefinite curfew has been imposed in Assam.