The BJP has been mounting attack on Congress over minister Shanti Dhariwal's remark (FILE)
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat attacked Rajasthan minister Shanti Dhariwal for his remark last year that linked "masculinity" with rapes, and said the Congress leader should be "thrown into the Arabian Sea" for his comments.
Addressing a public meeting in Bikaner Sunday, Mr Shekhawat said Rajasthan is indeed a "state of men" and its “masculinity” kept Hinduism and Sanatan Dharma alive. But he described Mr Dhariwal's comment as a blot on that “masculinity”.
Mr Dhariwal, who is the state's urban development and housing minister, had triggered a row in March 2022 when appeared to justify rapes in the state Assembly, saying, "Rajasthan mardon ka Pradesh hai." Targeting him, Mr Shekhawat said that when Dhariwal insulted Rajasthan through his comments in the Assembly, Congress MLAs laughed and clapped like "impotent men" and "eunuchs".
The opposition BJP has been mounting attack on the ruling Congress over the minister's remark ahead of the Assembly elections due later this year.
Mr Shekhawat said, "Rajasthan was insulted on the day when Shanti Dhariwal said that more rapes happen in Rajasthan because Rajasthan is a state of men. Behind him, Congress MLAs were laughing and clapping like impotent men and eunuchs when he made the statement."
"Certainly Rajasthan is a state of men. Because of the masculinity of Rajasthan, Hinduism and Sanatan Dharma are alive in India today. If Prithviraj Chauhan, Bappa Rawal, Rana Sanga, Veer Durgadas, Rao Chandra Sen, Maharana Pratap had not been born in Rajasthan, then today our name would have been something else,” he said.
"Who did the work of blackening the masculinity of Rajasthan? This Gehlot government did it and it is unfortunate that even today he (Dhariwal) is a part of the cabinet. He is still a minister. He should be thrown out, thrown into the Arabian sea,” Mr Shekhawat said.
The Union minister and BJP leader targeted the state government over law and order, government recruitment examination paper leaks and other issues.
He said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's only focus was to save his chair and he even called his former deputy Sachin Pilot "nakara and nikamma" (worthless).
"Their infighting came out in the open and it was not the Congress that suffered, it was the public that had to suffer because of this," he said.
He also accused Congress leaders of patronising mafias.
Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and other leaders were present in the public meeting.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)