Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Modi on Wednesday called the remarks by Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief Gopal Italia on women in a purported video a "reflection of the mindset" of the party, and said that the AAP is "anti-women and anti-Hindu".
A video of Italia went viral in which he is purportedly heard asking the women not to visit the temples and 'kathas' (sermons by Hindu priests) as they are "hubs of exploitation". This comes days after he allegedly made a casteist remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in yet another viral video.
"The remarks of Gopal Italia show are the reflection of the Aam Aadmi Party's mindset. They are anti-Hindu and they chant the name of Lord Ram only for the sake of it. They bluff when they say that they would facilitate the Ayodhya visit of the people of Gujarat," Sushil Modi said.
"They only chant slogans to garner votes. Italia's remarks show their anti-woman mindset. One of their ministers (Rajendra Pal Gautam) had to tender his resignation after taking part in an event in which religious conversions were taking place," he added.
Stating that the AAP is not a strong force in Gujarat, Modi said that the BJP has a direct contest with the Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls slated to be held in the state later this year.
"AAP is not strong in Gujarat. They are getting three seats in all the surveys. We have a contest against the Congress in the state. AAP is not in the race. But AAP would lose even those seats on which they could probably win because the women are very active in Gujarat," he said.
Modi said that anybody who "abuses" the Hindus will not get votes in Gujarat.
"Gujarat is such a state where women's participation and empowerment have taken place at a large scale. They will never tolerate an insult like this. Anybody who abuses a Hindu will not get any vote in the state," he said.
Earlier this week, BJP leader Sambit Patra slammed Italia for making casteist remarks about PM Modi and said that disparaging the Prime Minister implies insulting the country.
Patra's reaction came on Italia's remark on the Prime Minister. A video of Aam Aadmi Party's Gujarat state unit president Gopal Italia became viral on social media. In the video, Italia can be seen berating PM Modi and making casteist remarks about the Prime Minister.
"Calling the Prime Minister a lowly person is against the democratic rules of the country; it is an insult to the country. Be it any caste, or any religion, no person can be lowly," Patra said at a press conference.
"An OBC Prime Minister who comes from a backward class, who comes from a poor and ordinary family, repeatedly calling him lowly, what is this abuse? Does the Aam Aadmi Party want to call the backward class people lowly? Anyone who rises from an ordinary poor family and becomes the Prime Minister is not lowly in the democratic process. No, it is against democratic values," he added.
"The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal are the people who said that they have come to change the character of India. If the democratically elected influential and hardworking Prime Minister is called lowly, and he is calling the PM lowly in that video, not once, but somewhere it shows the mentality of the Aam Aadmi Party," he stated.
( With inputs from ANI )
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