Cong accuses Irani of 'politicising' issue of rapes in country

After a heated debate in the Lok Sabha between some Congress MPs and Smriti Irani over the burning of a rape victim in Unnao, the opposition party on Friday accused the Union minister of politicising the issue of rapes and claimed that the treasury benches created a ruckus as they did not want a discussion in the House on women's security.

A heated debate in Lok Sabha on the burning of the rape victim in Unnao snowballed into a massive political row on Friday as the BJP accused two Congress members of showing aggression towards Irani and demanded an apology, leading to adjournment of the House proceedings without much work.

"What befuddled us that instead of responding to our concerns the treasury benches resorted to hurling allegations against us as a result of which the House got adjourned. Speaker had also issued a ruling over this issue (indicating that the matter was over)," Chowdhury said.

"Unrelenting, Smriti Irani was hell bent on apology from two of our members who also participated in the debate when treasury benches hurled allegations against us. While the chair was occupied by Chairman, she got the courage to overrule the rulings made by the speaker," Chowdhury said.

If treasury benches think that by the might of their numbers they will be able to do anything on their whims and fancies, the Congress will resist it with whatever means at its disposal, Chowdhury said.

Speaking on the incident at a Congress briefing, party MP Jothimani hit out at Irani, saying "she has politicised rape".

Treasury benches people created a ruckus and got the House adjourned because the government does not want a discussion on women security in Parliament, she said.

"What happened in Parliament today when we wanted to speak on the Unnao (incident), they did not want to discuss it and the Home minister was also not present. Instead, the women and child development minister stood up. Smriti Irani stood up and politicised rape," Jothimani said.

She also hit out at the BJP for accusing Congress' leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of politicising the Unnao incident, saying, "We never tried to politicise rape.

"We are sensitive enough to realise what happened in Coimbatore, what happened in Hyderabad, Unnao and Malda," the Congress MP said.