BJP attacks Rahul Gandhi over Konda Surekha ouster, says Congress ‘smashes prospects of women’

The BJP on Friday attacked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the removal of Congress leader Konda Surekha from the Telangana Cabinet, accusing him and his party of undermining women leaders.

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said Gandhi's call to “smash the patriarchy” was merely political rhetoric, questioning his silence over Surekha's removal from the Telangana Council of Ministers.

“For Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the slogan ‘smash the patriarchy’ is nothing but empty words and political rhetoric,” Swaraj told reporters.

Her remarks came a day after Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy dropped Surekha from the Cabinet with immediate effect amid a row over remarks made against him and others by Surekha's daughter.

Surekha has denied any wrongdoing and accused Revanth Reddy of indulging in “blackmail politics”. She also alleged that she was removed without being given a reason or an opportunity to explain her position.

Referring to the development, Swaraj said a senior Congress leader had been “humiliated and dropped” from the Cabinet by a Congress government in Telangana.

“Surekha has levelled extremely serious allegations against the Congress government and the Telangana chief minister,” she said.

“I want to ask why Rahul Gandhi remains silent regarding these accusations of injustice and blackmail? Perhaps it is because, for him, ‘smash the patriarchy’ is merely an election slogan, nothing more than political rhetoric,” Swaraj added.

She further alleged that the mindset of Gandhi, Congress and its governments was to “smash the prospects of women if they are progressive”.

Swaraj also claimed that no woman had been given a ministerial post in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.

Gandhi had addressed an event in Pune on August 22, where he criticised what he called the “Manusmriti mindset” and urged girl students to “smash patriarchy”.

Interacting with students at his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ outreach programme, Gandhi said women belonged to themselves and not to their fathers, husbands or sons. He also criticised the Manusmriti's prescription that women should remain under the authority of male relatives at different stages of their lives.