People Should Decide If BJP Can Be Referred As 'Balatkar Janata Party', Says Congress Leader Kamal Nath

Congress leader Kamal Nath on Monday said the name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should be changed to 'Balatkar Janata Party'.

Addressing the media on Kathua and Unnao rape cases, the Congress leader said, "I read it somewhere that around 20 leaders of the BJP are linked with rape cases. Now the people should consider changing the name of the party from the Bharatiya Janata Party to Balatkar Janata Party."

Recently, the BJP MLA from Unnao Kuldeep Singh Sengar was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the charges of raping a minor last year.

An FIR was lodged against the BJP MLA last Thursday under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction of woman), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fast track cases of rapes of minors and punish the guilty if he was serious about providing justice to the country's daughters.

Gandhi pointed out that there were as many as 19,675 cases of rapes of minor children in 2016, terming them as "shameful".

"There were 19,675 rapes of minor children reported in 2016. This is shameful. PM should fast track these cases and punish the guilty if he is serious about providing justice for our daughters," Gandhi said on Twitter, using the hashtag 'SpeakUp'.

His remarks come days after the prime minister said that the guilty in the Kathua and Unnao incidents would not be spared and the country's daughters will get justice.

Expressing anguish over the two incidents which have triggered widespread outrage, the prime minister had said such crimes challenge the very concept of social justice "and as a society and a country we all are ashamed of it."

"I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice. We all will have to work together to end this internal evil," he had said at an event last week.

In Kathua, an eight-year-old girl was gangraped and murdered while in Unnao, a 17-year-old has accused a BJP MLA of raping her.

(With Agency Inputs)