Women MPs from the ruling BJP lodged a complaint against Rahul Gandhi with the Lok Sabha speaker’s office on Wednesday, alleging that the Wayanad MP blew a kiss at the treasury benches after his speech in the no-trust vote against the Modi government.
The petition was signed by more than 20 MPs including ministers Shobha Karandlaje and Darshana Jardosh and sought stringent action against the Wayanad MP for “inappropriate gesture” towards Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani.
“We demand stringent action against such behavior by the Member, which has not only insulted the dignity (of) woman members in the house, it has brought disrepute and lowered the dignity of this august House,” the MPs said in their complaint to speaker Om Birla.
BJP MP from Karnataka’s Udupi, Shobha Karandlaje, demanded that the CCTV footage of the proceedings be examined and action initiated against Rahul Gandhi.
At the end of her speech, Irani called the former Congress president a “misogynist”, and said that such “indecent behaviour” has not been witnessed in Parliament before.
“The Member who spoke before me, made an indecent gesture. Only a misogynist man can give a flying kiss to parliament which seats female MPs (sic),” Irani alleged.
Responding to the allegations against Rahul, the Congress, in a strong defence of its leader, accused Irani of suffering from ‘Rahul-phobia’. “Smriti Irani is consumed by ‘Rahul-phobia’ and she should try to come out of it,” Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said.
The Congress also fielded its women MPs to accuse Irani of sidestepping the violence against women in Manipur. “We were waiting to hear about the women of Manipur, but Smriti Irani, who is the Women and Child Development minister, did not mention them. We were hoping to hear about Bilkis Bano, Hathras, and women wrestlers, but she did not raise the issue,” Congress MP Jothimani said.
Published 09 August 2023, 17:11 IST