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NCW to serve notice to Rahul for Nirmala remark

Last Updated 01 May 2019, 08:58 IST

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken cognisance of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's “ek mahila (a woman)” remark in Jaipur on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying it will serve a notice to him in this connection on Thursday.

“What is @rahulgandhi trying to imply with his misogynistic statement '... ek mahila say kaha meri raksha kiijiye...'? Does he think women are weak? The irony — calling an accomplished defence minister of the largest democracy a weak person,” NCW chairman Rekha Sharma on Wednesday tweeted, tagging the prime minister and Nirmala in her tweet.

Within a few minutes of Sharma's tweet, the NCW tweeted on the microblogging site, saying it will be sending a notice to Gandhi “regarding the statement in question.”

Earlier in the day while addressing a rally at Jaipur in Rajasthan, Rahul said the prime minister, who “claims to have a broad chest”, had "run away" from a debate in Parliament on the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.

“The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a woman, 'Sitharaman ji, defend me. I won't be able to defend myself. You defend me.' For two and a half hours, the woman could not defend him. I had asked a straight question – answer yes or no – but she couldn’t answer,” he said.

A few hours later while addressing a public meeting at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, the prime minister reacted to Rahul's remark.

"They are bent upon insulting a woman defence minister... This is not an insult to a woman, but an insult to entire India's women power, for which these irresponsible leaders will have to pay the price," Modi said, without mentioning Rahul's name.

He said Sitharaman had floored the Opposition in the Lok Sabha by coming up with "fact after fact" on the Rafale deal.

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(Published 09 January 2019, 15:38 IST)

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