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Video Editor: Varun Sharma
The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday, 10 January, issued a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi over his comment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “ran away and asked a mahila (woman) to defend him.”
Here’s how the controversy unfolded.
The Congress president, during a public rally, spoke about the prime minister not attending the Rafale deal debate in Parliament, and sending Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to “defend” him.
“The mahila (here, Nirmala Sitharaman) spoke for 2.5 hours but couldn’t defend (Modi),” Gandhi said.
On Wednesday, 9 December, PM Modi had slammed the Opposition and accused Gandhi of insulting Sitharaman. The prime minister had said Gandhi’s remark was an “insult to women empowerment.”
Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, Modi referred to Sitharaman’s reply in Parliament on the Rafale deal, and said:
Reacting to Modi’s comments, Gandhi, said in a tweet, "respect for women begins at home" and asked the prime minister to “be a man” in facing the Rafale allegations.
From people associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like Amit Malviya to Neha Joshi and senior journalists like Harinder Baweja took to Twitter to slam the ‘derogatory’ remarks by Gandhi.
(With inputs from ANI)
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