BJP hits back at Rahul over 'women in shorts' gibe

Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had “no women in shorts” to suggest a glass sealing in the organization backfired as BJP hit back strongly.

Gandhi, on a three-day visit to the poll-bound Gujarat from Monday, questioned the male dominance in the Sangh organizations and had unwittingly handed the beleaguered saffron party an issue to get back at him.

“As long as women keep quiet, it is ok for them,” Gandhi said during an interaction with youngsters in Vadodara. “But as soon as a woman opens her mouth, they shut her down.”

“Let me ask you one question. Their main organisation is RSS. How many women are there in leadership roles? Have you seen women in their Shakha in shorts? Have you ever seen any women? I have not seen it. You see women in Congress but none in RSS,” Gandhi said.

The BJP, beleaguered after a media report raised questions about the business dealings of their boss’ son, promptly seized on the issue with former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel asking Gandhi to take back his statement.

“This is Gandhi’s Gujarat. Gujarat of Sardar. It is a cultured Gujarat,” Anandiben said, demanding Gandhi’s apology for the statement.  “You cannot tell any women what they should wear and where they should go. He has insulted women of Gujarat.”

“A national leader like Rahul Gandhi holds such views on women. I don’t know where has he got his sanskaar from?” she asked.

IN 2007, Sonia Gandhi’s words ‘Maut ke Saudagar’ (messengers of death), an apparent barb against the BJP and the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, backfired on the Congress as the saffron party called it an insult of the state and won the elections.

Anandiben warned that the women in Gujarat would hand Congress one more defeat in the forthcoming polls if Rahul Gandhi refused to take back his statement. The BJP’s women’s wing in Vadodara also staged a protest against Gandhi’s statement.

But Congress –wanting not to let the controversy engulf its campaign- sought to end the spiraling war of words by pointing out that Rahul Gandhi was merely referring to the lack of women at the RSS top echelons.

“What he has said is that there are no women in the high position in saffron brigade such as RSS,” Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil told the media, accusing the BJP of spreading lies.