New Delhi/Ahmedabad: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today became the second Union Minister to flay Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his unsavoury remarks, one relating to world hunger index and the other to women in RSS. Reacting to Mr Gandhi's widely criticised remark that he has not seen any women at an RSS 'shakha' meeting wearing shorts, the group's trademark khaki uniform, Ms Swaraj said such behaviour was "unbecoming" of politicians. "It's unbecoming of politicians to speak like this," Ms Swaraj said at 'Mahila Town Hall' in Ahmedabad. "Had Rahul Gandhi asked why women were not allowed to wear shorts in the RSS, I would have definitely responded.
But given the inappropriate language he used, I do not think this question deserves an answer," she added. Further rejecting the allegation that BJP was an 'anti-women party,' Ms Swaraj said BJP was the first party to include women members in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). "Prior to our government, no woman was ever a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)." Two out of the four CCS members today are women, she added. The party has given 'four women Chief Ministers and four women Governors'.
There are six women Ministers in the current Union Cabinet, the Minister pointed out. Ms Swaraj also exemplified with her own appointment as External Affairs Minister in 2014, and that of Nirmala Sitharaman as Defence Minister this year. AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had recently alleged that BJP was biased against women, even going to the extent of commenting on ideological outfit RSS. "The BJP's main outfit is the RSS.
How many women are there in the RSS? Ever seen any RSS 'shakha' (branch) with women wearing shorts? At least I haven't seen any," Mr Gandhi had asked. RSS had hit out at Mr Gandhi, accusing him of "reading out speeches written by those with no understanding" of the organisation. Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani had also mocked Mr Gandhi on Twitter over the Global Hunger Index, according to which India had slipped three notches on the index and comes down to 100.
The report was tweeted by Mr Gandhi with a Hindi couplet—Bhukh hai to sabr kar, roti nahin to kya hua, Aajkal Dilli mein zer-e-bahes hai ye muddoa(You might be hungry, but you should have patience, If you have nothing to eat, so what. This is the raging debate in Delhi these days). Ms Irani sought to repulse the offensive with another couplet—‘Ai satta ke Bhukh, Sabra kar, Ankde saath nahin to kyahua, Khugharzon ko jama kar, Mulk ki badnaami ka shor to macha hi lengen’( O, the greed for power, be patient. If the data does not support us, we can gather all selfish people around to malign the nation). Ms Irani also asked the Congress Vice-President to "know how to respect women." (UNI)