New Delhi, August 9:
Women ministers and MPs were outraged by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's act of blowing a kiss towards the treasury benches just before leaving Lok Sabha after his speech in the ongoing no-confidence motion discussions, and they promptly petitioned Speaker Om Birla against the Congress MP on Wednesday.
“Never before have we seen this level of misogyny in the Indian Parliament,” said Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, a traditional rival to Gandhi, whom she defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in his family bastion of Amethi.
Just as Irani was about to refute Gandhi's “BJP has murdered Bharat Mata in Manipur” remarks in the Lok Sabha today, Gandhi collected his papers and left, prompting ruling party MPs to yell, “Why are you running away now?”
Gandhi turned around as he approached the Lok Sabha exit and blew a flying kiss twice towards the Treasury side.
Shobha Karandlaje, Darshana Jardosh, and female BJP MPs lodged a complaint to the Speaker against Gandhi's “indecent act,” with MP Poonam Mahajan demanding that the Wayanad member be suspended from Parliament.
While the Congress explained Rahul Gandhi's gesture by saying he was responding to ruling-party jibes in his “Mohabbat ki dukaan” mode, the audacity of the act was not lost on anyone.
“This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has misbehaved inside the Lok Sabha,” Shobha Karandlaje and Jardosh said.
They recalled Rahul's act in the July 2018 no-confidence motion against the Council of Ministers of walking across the aisle to hug Prime Minister Narendra Modi after finishing his speech.
Rahul returned to his seat after hugging the PM and winked triumphantly.
“Rahul Gandhi's undignified and misogynistic act reveals the Congress Party's culture of entitlement and disrespect for women,” Irani said, criticising the Congress leader in the House.
Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP expressed his sadness at what he witnessed.
“What kind of behaviour does Rahul Gandhi exhibit?” “Does he have any decency?” he inquired.
BJP MPs have demanded “strictest action,” urging Birla to examine video footage of Rahul Gandhi.
Back in India, the late Sharad Yadav was chastised for referring to short-haired women as “par kati” during a debate on the Women's Quota Bill.
When Congress MP Renuka Chowdhary laughed too loudly in the House in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said, “You should go and see a doctor.”
