Congress's Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh today citing the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand, which has triggered shock and outrage across the country. The incident, he said, was an instance of how they treated women as "objects" and "second class citizens". "This is the truth of the BJP ideology. They respect nothing but power," he said.
Ankita Bhandari was killed allegedly by Pulkit Arya -- the son of a BJP leader who has since been expelled -- and two of his accomplices, for refusing to provide "special services" to guests. Her body was fished out from the Chilla canal near Rishikesh on September 24.
Investigation revealed that she had resisted the attempts of the hotel manager and his assistant to push her into prostitution, the police had said.
"Imagine this -- a leader of the BJP owns a hotel and his son is forcing a girl to become a prostitute... and when she refused to become a prostitute, she was found dead in a lake," Rahul Gandhi said at a public meeting in Kerala today during his Bharat Jodo yatra.
"It is the most disgusting, the most shameful example of how the BJP and RSS treat women in this country. The ideology of BJP and RSS views women as objects and second class citizens. India can never succeed with this ideology. A country which cannot learn to respect its women or empower them, can never achieve anything... A country which views its women as second class citizens is doomed to failure," he said.
Mr Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had started the flagship "Save the girl child" campaign.
"Prime Minister's Slogan - Save the girl child. BJP Karma - Save the Rapist. He is the first Prime Minister of India whose legacy will be - only speeches, false and hollow speeches. Their rule is dedicated to criminals. Now India will not sit silent," his post read.
Mr Gandhi had taken on the BJP over the Uttarakhand murder earlier as well.
"Crime and arrogance have become synonymous with BJP. No embarrassment, no words, just silence, the Prime Minister's message is clear - 'women should not expect anything from me'," he had tweeted in Hindi.
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