‘Rahul, Priyanka should seek resignation of Parameshwara’: BJP

New Delhi: Attacking Home Minister G Parameshwara for his comment that incidents like molestation do happen at times in a big city like Bengaluru, the BJP on Monday urged Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to seek the minister’s resignation.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that Parameshwara is a “serial offender”, claiming that he had made similar remarks trivialising crimes against women during sexual assaults against them in the Karnataka capital in 2017.

He said Parameshwara has exhibited a brazen display of a “most shocking, misogynist, patriarchal, sexist and obnoxious mindset” by trivialising an incident that has shocked the country, especially women of the state.

The BJP leader noted that the city police have not been able to apprehend the criminals and accused the minister of standing with the culprits.

He claimed that crimes against women have seen a 50% rise in the Congress-ruled state.

He said Parameshwara might have dismissed the insult heaped on Draupadi, the famous character from the epic Mahabharata, as a minor incident even though it ended up triggering the legendary war between Pandavas and Kauravas. He said, “Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should break the silence and seek resignation from Parameshwara.”

The BJP spokesperson cited several cases of crimes against women, including the gang rape of an Israeli tourist, to target the Congress government and added that several Congress leaders in the past have made similarly provocative statements related to women.