Anupriya Patel, Supriya Sule and Kirron Kher made a strong statement in Parliament during the debate on intolerance.
On a day Home Minister Rajnath Singh sparred with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi over the issue of perceived intolerance in the country, a group of women lawmakers stood out in the debate.
Speaking from the Opposition benches, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule chose the incident when Shiv Sena men smeared ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni -- once a close aide of BJP patriarch LK Advani -- as an example of intolerance. "What happened to Kulkarni is just sad. What is the young chief minister doing about it?" asked Ms Sule.
When uproar came from BJP benches, suggesting it was Sena that was involved, Ms Sule shot back: "There is a certain decorum in the Parliament, especially when we talk about intolerance. If the home minister can listen calmly, why can't the other members also patiently listen?"
Talking about award wapsi, Ms Sule said: "When Gujarat riots happened, none returned their awards. Why? It is because people had faith in Atalji's leadership."
The spirited defense came from first time BJP Lok Sabha member Kirron Kher.
"Supriya talked of Vajpayeeji having the right temperament. I want to tell the members that so many minority leaders have left the Congress and joined the BJP because of the work of Narendra Modiji," she asserted.
In her defense of the Modi government, Ms Kher also made a scathing attack on previous Congress regimes.
"We keep hearing of growing intolerance. But do we have a reference point? For the past 65 years such stray incidents have been happening. Where were these intellectuals then?" she asked, quickly adding the example of anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
Drawing examples from the world of entertainment, Ms Kher recounted how Kishore Kumar was banned from All India Radio during Emergency "because he has refused to sing at a Congress party function." More recently, she said, the UPA government had "embarrassed Amitabh Bachchan by first inviting him to inaugurate the International Film Festival of India and the very next day, he was uninvited."
Just when it seemed the lawmakers from opposing sides were out to equal scores, Anupriya Patel, member from Apna Dal, BJP's ally from Uttar Pradesh, brought in a sense of balance.
Admitting that "unfortunate incidents" have happened in recent past, Ms Patel asked: "But is India only about these incidents? Don't good things happen? Why is the media showing only these kind of events?."
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan nodded in appreciation as Ms Patel wrapped her speech. Clearly, women power was in full display in the lower House of Parliament.