Will never apologise: Rahul Gandhi on rape remarks

BJP on Friday stalled both Houses of Parliament over Rahul Gandhi's 'Rape in India' remarks at an election rally in Jharkhand, with Union Minister Smriti Irani accusing the Congress leader of “giving a clarion call to rape Indian women”.

BJP members led vociferous protests in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, forcing repeated adjournments in both the Houses on the last the of the Winter Session with demands for apology by the former Congress President.

Gandhi, who could not speak in the Lok Sabha, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and rejected demands for an apology.

“I will not apologise. Let me clarify what I said. I said the Prime Minister keeps talking about 'Make In India. So when one opens the newspaper one hoped that one would see news about it, but what do we see when we open the papers? We see so many cases of rapes,” Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.

Launching a counter-attack, Gandhi played out an old clip of Modi on the campaign trail during which he had called Delhi the “rape capital”.

The Congress leader accused Modi of diverting the focus from the violence in north-eastern states over the amendments to the Citizenship Act.

In parliament, Irani and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the BJP members in raising slogans against Gandhi.

“Not all men are rapists. This is an insult to India. Rahul Gandhi is touching 50, and still does not realise that such a statement seems like an invitation to rape in India,” Irani said.

Rajnath said persons making such remarks have no moral right to be member of this House.

In the Rajya Sabha, women members from the BJP raised slogans against the Congress leader for his reported remarks against the dignity of women. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the name of the Congress leader in question should not be taken as he was not a member of the upper house.