A senior Indian politician has been accused of disrespecting women after he appeared to suggest that the shade of a female opponent’s underwear showed her true political colours.

The comments, described as “absolutely disgraceful” by the chair of the National Commission for Women, were made by a leader in the left-wing Samajwadi Party (SP), one of the major opposition parties in the country’s ongoing general election.

Azam Khan was speaking at a rally in the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh when he made a statement widely seen as referring to his rival Jaya Prada, an actor-turned-politician who is fighting to represent the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the seat of Rampur.

The two were formerly colleagues together in the SP before Ms Prada defected to the BJP, a history Mr Khan appeared to allude to when he said he “brought this person to Rampur, I made her familiar with the streets of Rampur ... and you made this person your representative for 10 years”.

Addressing the crowd, he said: “It took you 17 years to understand the person’s real face. I realised in 17 days that the underwear beneath is a khaki colour.”

Khaki is the colour associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the right-wing Hindu nationalist movement that is seen as the ideological parent organisation of the BJP.

It might seem mild compared to the sort of statements made by western leaders who have gone on to be elected, but in conservative India the reference to underwear has led to a vociferous backlash.

A criminal complaint has been lodged against Mr Khan at a station in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahabad, police said, while the Election Commission of India has been called upon to judge whether the comments breached its “model code of conduct”, a set of rules governing how politicians, parties and the media must behave during election season.

After reviewing video of the SP rally that was being widely shared on social media, Ms Prada said it was not the first time Mr Khan had “made comments against me”.

“He shouldn’t be allowed to contest elections,” she told the ANI news agency. “Because if this man wins, what will happen to democracy? There’ll be no place for women in society.”

Mr Khan’s comments were “offensive, unethical and show disrespect towards dignity of women”, said the National Commission for Women in a statement.

Sushma Swaraj, a senior minister in Narendra Modi’s BJP government, called on the SP leadership not to make the “mistake” of staying silent on the matter. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, was reportedly present on the stage on Sunday when Mr Khan made the remarks.

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Even the main opposition Congress party, which is allied to the SP in some states, criticised Mr Khan’s conduct. Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress’s national spokesperson, said the comment was “absolutely unbecoming and this kind of filth in discourse needs to be condemned by all”. The BJP, she said, had provided more than enough reasons to be critical without the need to “lower the discourse to sexist/misogynistic comments”.

Mr Khan, responding to the furore on Monday, denied that his remarks had been directed at Ms Prada. He claimed the underwear comment was the continuation of an anecdote about a man who once issued him with a death threat. “Shorts are worn by men [too],” he said.

“I have been a minister,” he told ANI. “I know what to say. If anyone proves that I have named anyone and insulted anyone by name ... if it is proved, I will step back from the elections.”