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Responding to the uproar over his “rape in India” remark in Parliament on Friday, 13 December, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he will not apologise.
Speaking to the media outside the House, he said that the attack was the BJP’s strategy to divert attention from the massive protests in the Northeast over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“The main agenda today was that the Northeast is burning down. To divert attention from that, the BJP is focused on attacking me on something I will not apologise for.”Rahul Gandhi, Congress Leader
Further, Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the one who should apologise, since he made similar remarks, calling Delhi the rape capital few years back. Further, he said that PM Modi should also apologise for “burning down” the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian economy.
He later tweeted out the clip of PM Modi calling Delhi the rape capital of India.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while attacking Gandhi, said on Friday, that the people who make such remarks have no moral right to be members of this House.
As soon as Speaker Om Birla paid tributes to those who lost their lives in the 2001 Parliament attack, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said several BJP members had given notices of adjournment against Gandhi's remarks and requested that they be allowed to speak.
Meghwal said Gandhi’s remarks in Jharkhand’s Godda district on Thursday, 12 December, were condemnable and he should apologise in the House.
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Meghwal said there had been precedents where members have apologised in Lok Sabha for remarks made outside the House.
Further, Union Minister Smriti Irani asked if this was Gandhi's message to the people of India and outside?
She said that this is the first time a political leader is "giving a clarion call that Indian women should be raped."
“Is this Rahul Gandhi’s message to the people of the country?”Smriti Irani, Union Minister
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said Gandhi had insulted women by making remarks that 'Make in India' had become "rape in India". She said all men were not rapists.
There was commotion in the House as BJP members raised slogans, seeking an apology from Gandhi.
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