NEW DELHI, Aug 10: The Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday attacked Union Minister Smriti Irani for talking “about some flying kiss” but not saying a word when a BJP MP was accused of sexual harassment by wrestlers.
The statement was a reference to Ms Irani raising the issue of the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s alleged flying kiss in Parliament after his speech during the no-confidence debate on Wednesday. The minister had expressed outrage and said the House had never witnessed such an “indecent act.”
Women BJP MPs had also demanded action and complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that Gandhi had insulted women with his “indecent gesture.” Bollywood film actress and BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini, who is one of the 20 signatories in the complaint letter to the speaker, however, said on Thursday that she had not seen Gandhi gesturing a flying kiss.
Without naming BJP MP and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Ms Moitra told reporters, “When a BJP MP was accused of harassment and molestation by our champion wrestlers, we did not hear one word out of the Women and Child Development minister and now she is talking about some flying kiss. Where are your priorities madam?” Singh had even gone a step forward having told the Delhi high court during a hearing of his case earlier this week that feeling a woman “without having a sexual intent” was not an offence.
Complaining against Gandhi, Ms Irani had said on Wednesday, “Never before has the misogynistic behaviour of a man been so visible in parliament. When the House of the people – where laws are made to protect the dignity of women – during the course of a session stands witness to a man’s misogyny, my question is should he be brought to task?”
The Congress had countered that Gandhi was gesturing towards slogan-shouting BJP MPs. “Rahul Gandhi gestured towards the treasury benches as he was leaving with a flying kiss as he had called them brothers and sisters. He did not direct it towards any particular minister or MP, and not at all towards Smriti Irani.”
Meanwhile, Gandhi reacting to expunge of a part of his speech told media persons outside Parliament on Thursday that Bharat Mata had now become an unparliamentary word in India. Gandhi had launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Targeting the Prime Minister for not visiting Manipur, where ethnic violence has claimed more than 150 lives in the past couple of months, Gandhi said, “The Prime Minister has not gone to Manipur because he doesn’t consider it a part of India. You (BJP) have divided Manipur.”
He alleged that the centre can stop the violence in Manipur by calling in the Army, but has not acted yet. “You are traitors… That is why Prime Minister does not visit Manipur. You are not protectors of Bharat Mata…,” he added.
(Manas Dasgupta)