india

Updated: Dec 16, 2019 10:32 IST

The Election Commission of India has sought a response from Jharkhand’s chief electoral officer over Union minister Smriti Irani’s complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his ‘Rape in India’ comment during a poll rally in the state, according to news agency ANI.

Rahul Gandhi had taken a swipe at the Centre’s ambitious Make in India campaign at the election rally in Godda last week over the rising cases of sexual assaults across the country.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to say ‘Make in India’ but nowadays wherever you look, it is ‘Rape in India’. In Uttar Pradesh, Modi’s MLA raped a woman, then she met with an accident but Narendra Modi did not utter a word,” he had said in reference to the case against expelled legislator Kuldeep Sengar.

Union minister Smriti Irani had led a delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday to the Election Commission demanding action against the Congress lawmaker for his remark at the election rally.

“It is with a sense of outrage that women MPs of BJP have approached the Election Commission of India to take the strongest action possible against Rahul Gandhi. Mr Gandhi has used rape as a political weapon to settle scores with Narendra Modi,” Irani had said after the meeting.

Earlier in the day, she had led an attack in the Lok Sabha on Rahul Gandhi for his ‘Rape in India’ comment as BJP lawmakers demanded an apology from the Congress leader.

“This is the first time in history that a leader is giving a clarion call that Indian women should be raped. Is this Rahul Gandhi’s message to the people of the country? He should be punished,” Smriti Irani had said in the Lok Sabha.

The former Congress president has refused to apologise for his rape comment that rocked Parliament on Friday.

“The BJP asked me to apologise for telling the truth. I am not Rahul Savarkar. I am Rahul Gandhi. I will not apologise. Nor will anyone from the Congress,” he said on Saturday at the Bharat Bachao rally at Ramlila Maidan.