"Boycott Scriptures Which Advocate Women Harassment": AAP MLA

AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam on Wednesday demanded that society boycott religious scriptures which advocate women harassment, prompting angry reaction from the Delhi BJP which said his comments exposed "anti-Hindu face of the AAP government".

During a discussion on women security in the Delhi Assembly in view of Tuesday's incident at Indraprastha College for Women where several men scaled the college walls and harassed students, Mr Gautam said, "The issue of women harassment is connected to religious scriptures which contain bad words about women and their character." "A religious scripture which is worshipped by some people in India and which remained at the centre of discussions recently puts women, animal and shudras in the same league and demands that they be beaten up," Mr Gautam said.

"Everyone should unite and boycott all such scriptures which advocate women harassment and discriminate among people," he said.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the remark "exposed the anti-Hindu face of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party".

He demanded that Chief Minister Kejriwal immediately clarify the stand of his party on Mr Gautam's statement.

If the Chief Minister does not agree with the views of Rajendra Pal Gautam, he should immediately expel him from the Delhi Assembly and the AAP, Mr Shankar said.

"Former minister Rajendra Pal Gautam called for the boycott of pious Hindu scripture Shri Ramcharitmanas and not even a single MLA of the ruling party opposed him," he said in a statement.

He alleged that Mr Gautam has been running an "anti-Hindu campaign for the last six months" and that the "anti-Hindu poster boy of the AAP has hidden support of Kejriwal".

Mr Gautam had to resign from his ministerial post in October last year, amid a controversy over his presence at a religious conversion event where Hindu deities were allegedly denounced.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)