A war of words has erupted between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the former’s remarks related to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This was after Gandhi told a rally in Jaipur that Modi had hid behind a woman (Sitharaman) in the parliament to avoid his attacks on the Rafale deal.
Gandhi said, “56-inch Prime Minister did not come to the people’s court or the parliament. 56-inch fame prime minister asked a woman (defence minister) to protect him. parantoo vo mahila dhai ghante mein PM ki raksha nahin kar pai. Uske bhashan ki dhajiyan uda di Congress ne. (But that woman could not protect the prime minister despite her speech lasting for more than two hours. We tore the speech by the defence minister to bits).”
Gandhi’s comments drew instant reactions from Modi, who said in Agra that the Congress was left rattled after a woman defence minister had given them a befitting reply on the Rafale deal in the parliament. He said, “When our defence minister, a woman, thrashed the opposition with facts inside the parliament, they got rattled and are now out to insult a woman. It’s not just an insult to a woman minister, but all women of this country.”
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women has reportedly decided to serve a notice to Gandhi for his remarks on Sitharaman.
Sitharaman had appeared on Republic TV, a channel founded with the help of BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Tuesday to make her case on the raging controversy over the Rafale deal. However, she had struggled in providing satisfactory replies to many serious questions of improprieties.