As against Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi's attempted portrayal of the BJP as Rs anti-womenRs , External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said that her party had given four women Chief Ministers and four women Governors to the country.
"Rivals call BJP anti-women party but it gave four women Chief Ministers and four women Governors to the country. Also, there are six women Cabinet Ministers under the BJP Government," Swaraj said while interacting with over women at Ahmedabad .
Though Election Commission (EC) is yet to announce poll dates for Gujarat, the State may have elections before December 18. EC has already announced November 9 as polling date for Himachal Pradesh assembly elections with counting date as December 18.
BJP which has being ruling in Gujarat for continuous 15 years of which 13 years under Narendra Modi, is hoping to ride back to power again even though Congress party is looking to resurrect itself in the State.
BJP has fielded Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh with both on a tour of the State with the former responding to political strikes from Congress Vice-President. Rahul's comments that BJP and RSS discriminates against women have invited sharp riposte from Swaraj.
"The BJP's main outfit is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSSIJ Ever seen any RSS 'shakha' (branch) with women wearing shortsIJ At least I haven't seen any," Rahul had asked. She slammed Congress vice-President's comments saying that such remarks were "unbecoming" of politicians."It's unbecoming of politicians to speak like this," she said at a 'Mahila Town Hall' in Ahmedabad.
"Had Rahul Gandhi asked why women are not allowed to wear shorts in the RSS, I would have definitely responded. But given the inappropriate language he used, I do not think this question deserves an answer," Swaraj added.
The Minister also rejected allegations that the BJP is an "anti-women party," saying that it has given "four women Chief Ministers and four women Governors."She also reminded the audience that there are six women Ministers in the current Union Cabinet.
Swaraj, instead, maintained that "prior to our Government, no woman was ever a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)."Two out of the four CCS members, Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, today are women.
The Minister cited her own appointment as External Affairs Minister in 2014, and that of Nirmala Sitharaman as Defence Minister this year, to refute allegations of a bias against women.
In another public meeting in Surat district at Bardoli , Gujarat, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said no power in the world can stop the Government from resolving the Kashmir issue and hit out at Pakistan for its "impious" activities against India.
Rajnath said the NDA Government has given a free hand to the Army to act against terrorists and rendered a befitting reply to any firing from across the border in Kashmir."I would like to say that nobody needs to be worried about Kashmir. No power in the world can stop us from resolving the issue," he said.
Addressing a gathering here in Surat district as part of the BJP's 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra', Rajnath said he has asked the Army to reply with bullets to Pakistani firings on the Kashmir border instead of showing the "white flag" (of peace).