New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack against Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani over her ‘ghar par ladka hai’ remark on Rahul Gandhi, saying that the minister should not have made such statements being a woman herself.
“Smriti Irani’s comment on Rahul Gandhi that ‘ghar par ladka hai par lad nahin sakta’ (There is a boy at home who cannot fight) is wrong. Being a woman, such a statement is incorrect. Instead, she should encourage women by saying that they should fight for themselves,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, according to a India Today report.
Countering Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s slogan “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I’m a girl and can fight)” for her party, Smriti Irani said on Thursday “Ghar par ladka hai par lad nahin sakta (There is a boy at home who can’t fight).”
Irani quipped the innuendo, mocking both former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at the Times Now Summit 2021.
“In UP, the election would be fought on the issue of development and we expect that there will be policy and development-led discussions, strengthening the democracy,” Irani said, countering the Congress slogan for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Referring to the “Ladki hoon…” slogan, tossed by Priyanka Gandhi during her announcement last month that the Congress will field woman candidates on 40 per cent of the UP assembly seats, Ms Irani said it means “Ghar par ladka hai par lad nahin sakta”.
Further dissecting Priyanka Gandhi’s proposal for giving 40 pc tickets to woman candidates, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development said, “This means she is saying she does not want to give 60 per cent tickets to women”.
“I am not saying in politics and democracy, people should not try. Winning and losing is part of politics. I also lost in 2014 but the question is how much belief do the people have in your efforts,” she said.
“Do people have that sentiment towards that person?” she further asked, referring to Rahul Gandhi.
She said women leaders should not be expected to take care of only women members of society.
“When we talk about women leaders why do we say women leaders must work only for women, why don’t we say that for men too,” she asked.
“When we give constitutional responsibility to someone, one’s responsibility is also that one works as much for men, children and elders as one does it for women,” she said.
Countering a question if the BJP works on the formula of polarisation, she asked, “Do you think the citizens of this country cannot do political analysis and will fall for a formula?”
On Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav talking of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the same breath, she also took a dig at the SP chief, saying this comparison again shows that ‘Ladke hain, lad nahin sakte. (Boys cannot fight).”