New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar on Wednesday said there were “more beautiful women star campaigners than Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra).”
Ms. Vadra is one of the star campaigners of the Congress for the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and has also played an important role in forging an alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party.
To a question, the BJP’s leader said, “It doesn’t matter… there are girls and women who are more beautiful than her [Ms. Vadra] and are also star campaigners.”
“Some of them are artists and heroines… they are more beautiful than her,” he said.
Later talking to reporters, Mr. Katiyar tried to downplay his remarks, saying it was an internal matter of the Congress as to whom they want to appoint as their campaigner.
But, he added that if the Congress is under the “impression that they have the beautiful face of Priyanka for campaigning, then to counter that the BJP also has many beautiful faces which it may ask to campaign for.”
However, he said, “…It is wrong and unfair to compare beauty with capability but Congress is doing this.”
Mr. Katiyar’s own name is missing from the BJP’s campaigners’ list for the elections, despite the fact that he hails from Uttar Pradesh.
Remarks expose BJP’s mindset towards women: Priyanka
Ms. Vadra said Mr. Katiyar’s remarks expose the BJP’s mindset towards the better half of the country’s population while the Congress sought an apology for insulting women.
Congress hit out at Mr. Katiyar, saying it reflects the “petty and insulting culture of BJP that commodifies women” and accused the BJP of insulting India’s womanhood for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah should apologise.
“If that’s all BJP sees in my colleagues who are each strong, brave and beautiful women that have battled through all sorts of hardships to get where they are, then he makes me laugh even more. Because he exposes the BJP’s mindset towards the better half of the population of India!!!,” Ms. Vadra said in response to Mr. Katiyar’s remarks.
Coming down heavily on the firebrand BJP leader, better known for pushing the Hindutva agenda, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said BJP has “insulted” India’s womanhood and such conduct, behaviour and words prove BJP’s mentality.
“BJP has insulted India’s womanhood. Such conduct, behaviour and words prove BJP’s mentality. Time for PM Modi and Amit Shah to apologise,” he said.
Mr. Surjewala said BJP-RSS suffer from a “deep rooted and retrograde anti-women mindset. There is a long list led by Mohan Bhagwat and Kailash Vijayvargiya“.
“Disparaging and atrocious remarks of Vinay Katiyar on Priyankaji reflect the petty and insulting culture of BJP that commodifies women.
“To adjudge India’s women by physical features and not by their capacity, capability, strength and sacrifice proves the lowly BJP mentality,” he said.
The Congress leader also said that if Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah have any respect left for women in the country, they should display courage by initiating strict action against Mr. Katiyar for his remarks otherwise women will show their power by voting against the BJP.
Ms. Vadra’s husband Robert Vadra attacked the BJP leader and demanded that Mr. Katiyar publicly apologises for his “misogynist” and atrocious” remarks.
“Shocked at misogynist and atrocious remarks of BJP MP Vinay Katiyar saying there were ‘prettier star campaigners’ in his party than Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. This exposes the shameful mindset of some of our political leaders.
“We all need to respect women and accept them as equals instead of commoditising and objectifying them. As a society, we need to bring in a change. Vinay Katiyar should publicly apologise for his remarks,” Mr. Vadra said in his Facebook post.
(PTI)
