Congress president Rahul Gandhi has earned the wrath of the National Commission for Women (NCW). His attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi — “The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a mahila, (Nirmala) Sitharaman ji, defend me” — led to the statutory body issuing him a notice. As per the NCW, Gandhi’s remarks were “misogynistic and unethical,” adding that, “He should explain his statement and should have apologised.”
Even PM Modi referred to it as “an insult to the women in the country,”
Misogyny displayed by male politicians is less a bug and more a feature in India, and Rahul Gandhi’s statements require introspection. What is curious, however, is the swiftness with which the NCW responded to this episode. The Congress party does not have a monopoly on misogyny; in fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made his fair share of sexist and deplorable remarks that seemed to have missed the NCW altogether.
“Congress’ Widow”
In December last year, PM Modi, in a rally, referred to Sonia Gandhi as “Congress’s widow”, when he said, “The Congress used to run such a government where an unborn girl was registered as a widow in the government papers and the girl began getting widow pension. Who were those widows who used to get this money? Who was the widow in the Congress in whose account this money used to go?”
Remarks Against Renuka Chowdhary
Before that, in February 2018, the PM had made remarks against Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury as well. In Parliament, Modi responded to Chowdhury’s laughter with: “Sabhapati ji meri aapse vinti hai Renuka ji ko kuch mat kahiye. Ramayan serial ke baad aisi hansi sunne ka saubhagya aaj jaake mila hai (I request you not to say anything to Renuka ji. After the Ramayan serial, we got the privilege of hearing this kind of laughter only today).”
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too, a month later, made comments about Chowdhury’s weight. Responding to her farewell speech in Rajya Sabha — “He (Naidu) knows me from many kilos before. Sir, many people worry about my weight, but in this job, you need to throw your weight around” — Naidu had said, “My simple suggestion is, reduce your weight and make efforts to increase the weight of the party”.
“Jersey Cow”
Narendra Modi, in fact, has abused Sonia Gandhi on more occasions than one. In 2004, Modi had described Sonia Gandhi as a “Jersey Cow” and Rahul Gandhi as her “hybrid” bachhada (calf).
“50 Crore ki Girlfriend”
In 2012, then-Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi had called Shashi Tharoor’s now-deceased wife, Sunanda Pushkar as a “Rs 50-crore girlfriend”.
Instances of sexist remarks from BJP members big and small are many, but surprisingly, the NCW — almost like the Editors Guild of India — decided to make an example of Rahul Gandhi. One has to ask: Are statutory bodies becoming pliable as well?
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