There is a long list of heinous crimes against women in opposition-ruled states such as Rajasthan, West Bengal and Bihar, but it is playing politics over the Manipur incident, the BJP alleged on Saturday.
Tension mounted in the hills of strife-torn Manipur after a May 4 video surfaced on Wednesday showing two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a group of men from the other side.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, senior party leader and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur referred to some cases of crime against women registered in Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal, and slammed Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and the leaders of other opposition parties and accused them of remaining silent on cases of crimes against women in states ruled by non-BJP parties.
From Bengal, Bihar to Rajasthan, crimes against women are on the rise in the states ruled by the TMC, JD (U), RJD and Congress but the government in these are “mute spectators”, Thakur charged.
“They talk about alliance but look at their leaders, none of them say anything on that,” he added.
Thakur claimed that over one lakh cases of crime against women have been registered in Rajasthan in the last four years. “A total of 33,000 cases pertain to sexual assault on women in Rajasthan", but the Gandhi family remains “mute spectators”, he charged.
On the sacking of Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha, he said that on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked the minister for expressing concern over crimes against women in the state.
Gudha was dismissed because he expressed concern over the increasing cases of crimes against women in Rajasthan and sought a debate on the issue and also called for introspection, Thakur alleged.
"Will Chief Minister Gehlot tender his resignation when his own minister says that the chief minister has lost his 'iqbal' (authority), when in his home district, a woman is murdered and burnt, and when five km away from his residence a woman is raped and left to die?” he asked.
"This is a question for (Congress chief Mallikarjun) Kharge and Gandhi parivaar leaders," he said and asked if they have “forgotten their responsibility".
Taking on the Trinamool Congress, the Union minister said when it comes to crimes against women, West Bengal is not far behind Rajasthan.
“Mamata (Banerjee) ji I don't know if any 'mamata' (endearment) is left in your heart or not but humanity was shamed when in Howrah's Panchla area, more than 40 goons of TMC paraded a woman naked on the day of panchayat polls and the candidate contesting the election was beaten up, insulted,” he charged.
"Not just this, a video is going viral in which two women are being paraded half-naked in West Bengal's Malda," the minister claimed.
"Where is Mamata Banerjee's 'mamata'? Where is the state government? Why is action not being taken," he asked.
Thakur said there is a long list of heinous crimes against women in Rajasthan. West Bengal and Bihar but the opposition parties are playing politics over the Manipur incident making it “a focal point”.
"On the one hand women's modesty is torn into shreds in Bihar, but all is well in the state for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav,” he said.
The Union minister alleged that the opposition parties disrupted Parliament proceedings for two consecutive days on the Manipur incident and ran away from a discussion on the situation in the northeastern state even though the government was ready for it.
"Crime against a woman is crime, be it happening in Manipur, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal or Chhattisgarh. They can't be differentiated. States have to take action. But, they only want to play politics. Instead of giving report cards of the state ruled by them, they are playing politics,” he said, adding the “country is watching”.
While replying to questions, the minister said the government is ready to hold a discussion on the situation in Manipur and it is the prerogative of the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker to decide under which rule it should happen.
“We are neither running away from fulfilling our responsibility nor from participating in the debate. But (the opposition) should stop playing politics at least on crime against women,” he said.
“I urge the opposition parties to come to Parliament on Monday along with the long list of crimes against women registered in their states because discussion will happen on all such incidents,” he added.
