Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Ir on Thursday slammed Congress over party women legislators in Haryana "pulling" tractor during a protest with party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda sitting on the vehicle.
Ir also slammed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for not taking action against those responsible for "insulting women by making them pull a tractor with ropes".
Taking a dig at Gandhi who "did not take any action on Hooda", Ir said it is shocking that no member of Congress intervened to stop such a protest.
"As a woman president of the Congress party, the silence of Sonia Gandhi speaks volumes of how women in Congress are reduced to do tasks that even men refused to do," Ir told
She alleged that men "refused" because it was a task in which they had to physically pull a tractor on which Hooda was sitting.
She also referred to remarks of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that state Congress leaders had not extended the due courtesy to women MLAs of the party, that too on International Women's Day.
"The Chief Minister of Haryana was anguished on the floor of the House. He said hold protest by all means but do not reduce the statue of the women. He also said this treatment to women MLAs was worse than bonded labour," she said.
Ir said it absolutely shocking to see Congress party leaders "sitting calmly on a tractor and making female Congress leaders pull it physically".
"I understand that he (Hooda) wants to protest and wants to make a political statement but should that be done at the cost of the women?" she asked.
"Look at the irony. We have a Prime Minister who says on International Women's day that let us celebrate the potential of women and here Hooda and family enterprise- owned Congress reduced stature of women and compelled them to physically pull a tractor for a political stunt," she added.
Hooda had led a protest from High Court chowk to Haryana assembly in Chandigarh aagainst rise in prices of petrol, diesel an cooking gas on Monday.
The Congress leader rode a tractor "pulled" by party legislators, including women MLAs, on the way to the Haryana Assembly.
( With inputs from ANI )
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