After the BJP shared a video of Randeep Singh Surjewala making a ‘vile, sexist, and misogynistic’ remark on the party’s MP from Mathura, actor Hema Malini, the Congress leader hit back on Thursday, accusing the ruling party’s IT cell of ‘distorting’ the clip, and uploading selective bits from it.
The BJP was trying to divert attention from the Modi government’s ‘anti-people’ policies and its goal to ‘finish off’ the Constitution of India, he also alleged.
“Watch the full clip. What I said was that we have great respect for Hema Malini ji, who is married to Dharmendra ji, and, therefore, is our daughter-in-law,” Surjewala wrote. He further asked why these ‘BJP pawns’ never questioned prime minister Narendra Modi for his comments on Congress’s women leaders.
“All I said was that in public life, everyone (public representatives) must be accountable to the people…be it (Haryana CM) Nayab Singh Saini, or (former CM) Manohar Lal Khattar, or myself. I did not intend to insult Hema Malini ji, or offend anyone. The BJP itself is anti-women, and spreads lies conveniently,” the Congress leader posted.
His statement on Malini, a two-term Mathura MP who has been retained by the saffron party from this Uttar Pradesh constituency, came days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) censured Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and BJP MP Dilip Ghosh for their ‘derogatory’ comments on women. While Shrinate was censured for a post from her Instagram handle on actor Kangana Ranaut, who will contest on a BJP ticket from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, Ghosh faced the poll panel’s action for his remark on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
What was Surjewala’s remark?
In the video shared by the BJP on social media, Surjewala is seen saying, “Why people elect their MLAs/MPs? So that they (MLAs/MPs) can raise the public’s voice. It’s not like Hema Malini, who was elected to lick.”
“Who thinks of women as something to lick? That is the most disgusting description someone can come up with. Just the other day, Surjewala’s colleague was asking ‘rate’ of another BJP woman leader, and now this,” Amit Malviya, who heads the saffron party’s IT cell, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), referring to the ‘rate card’ post made from Shrinate’s Instagram for Ranaut.
On her part, Shrinate denied the post was made by her, and claimed that this was done by someone with access to her Instagram handle.
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