The Congress party has accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of ‘insulting’ women in an article published on his website.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday said that the CM should tender an apology for his ‘disparaging’ remarks.
He even asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to condemn the CM’s ‘disparaging, distasteful and dishonourable’ remarks.
“He (Adityanath) further said that as energy cannot be left uncontrolled since it can be destructive, women also can never be left independent. This is shocking,” the Congress leader said, adding that ‘the mindset of the BJP was reflected in the latest article placed on the website of Adityanath in which Adityanath wrote that India’s women always require protection’.
Citing the article, Surjewala said that it states that women do not need independence but protection and channelization.
“He (Adityanath) does not end here. He also says a woman always need to be protected – be it by her father, by her husband or by her son – and goes on to say that a woman does not deserve independence or right to decide for herself,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the most shocking thing said by Adityanath was that if men get qualities of women than they turn divine but if women get qualities of men, then they become a “rakshas (demon)”.
“He says that if a woman become powerful, if a woman is brave, if a woman adopts shaurya then she becomes the devil,” Surjewala said.
Noting such remarks have never been made by any elected representative in the country’s history, he said this was a “clear insult” not to women of India but of the entire population of the country.
“It reflects BJP’s anti-women mindset coming from none less than BJP’s mascot Adityanath ji,” Surjewala said, asking if BJP leaders had forgotten the tales of bravery associated with goddesses.
Surjewala also said that there had been brave women freedom fighters as also women political leaders including Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee.
“Yogi Adityanath should immediately apologise to women for his disparaging, distatateful and dishonourable remarks and forthwith withdraw this article from his website without any conditions,” he said.
With IANS Inputs
