In poll-bound Rajasthan, Congress has tried to take the ‘respect women’ route. A poster has gone viral on social media which claims that if Congress comes to power, women will get respect.
Lol not a single naari in the picture! pic.twitter.com/aFNaABIIxQ
— Shuchi Singh Kalra (@shuchikalra) November 27, 2018
The poster features Congress President Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot and other Congress leaders but, ironically, not a single woman.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpagaSWvpE]
We’ve earlier pointed out how women empowerment is a mere propaganda tool for Congress. While most arguments of Congress regarding their contribution to women empowerment are centred around Indira Gandhi, her cabinet never had any notable women as a cabinet minister. There have been some Ministers of States but her regime did not see another major female political leader emerging or given a substantial role of a Union Minister. Sushila Nayyar was health minister for a year, but she was sacked soon.
In fact, it was Congress which punched the biggest hole in women empowerment with overturning the Shah Bano case. While the Supreme Court of India had granted Shah Bano the right to maintenance, the Rajiv Gandhi led Congress government in the centre succumbed to the possible confrontations from the Muslim Personal Law Board. Rajiv Gandhi’s government passed a law in the name of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 and basically reversed the Supreme Court Verdict. The SC verdict that could have been the harbinger of equal rights to all Muslim Women as the rest of the women of this country was overturned in the name of Muslim appeasement.
Moving on to more recent times, when the Narendra Modi led government batted for the abolition of Triple Talaaq in a bid to empower Muslim women who were being given triple talaq for frivolous reasons and being rendered homeless, Congress not only tried to stall the bill and often displayed double standards, senior Congress leaders even tried to justify their opposition to the bill in ridiculous ways.
Last year, during the run-up to the Gujarat elections, Rahul Gandhi had made sexist comments saying that women associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) do not “wear shorts”.
Inka (BJP) main sangathan RSS hai. Kitni mahila hain usme, kabhi shaakha mein mahilaon ko dekha hai shorts mein? Maine to nahi dekha: RG pic.twitter.com/cAxxmDqdw8
— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2017
Because only by “wearing shorts” does a woman get empowered. And Rahul Gandhi and his party talking about women empowerment and respecting women across as a bit of an irony. Recently, NSUI President Fairoz Khan, who was recently accused by a woman member of NSUI of abetting female members of the organisation to make sexual relationship with him in lieu of political posts, was seen on the posters of a ‘Girls’ Convention’ held in Indore.
Earlier, when allegations of sexual harassment against Congress IT cell member Chirag Patnaik had emerged, Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana had expressed ‘full support’ to Patnaik. In September, Bandari Bala Kumar, Sircilla unit Youth Congress president, was taken into custody after he allegedly entered the hostel in the town and harassed the girls allegedly under inebriated condition.
