The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday slammed the Congress party over its leader Randeep Surjewala’s controversial comments on Mathura MP Hema Malini, saying the grand old party abhors women.

“Congress MP Randeep Surjewala makes a vile sexist comment, that is demeaning and derogatory, not just for Hema Malini, who is an accomplished individual, but women in general. He asks, ‘Why do we elect an MLA and MP? We do it so that they can raise their voice. Get our works done….”, BJP leader Amit Malviya said in a post on ‘X’.

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Malviya also shared the purported video of Surjewala’s speech and added, “Just the other day, Surjewala’s colleague was asking the ‘rate’ of another BJP woman leader, and now this…This is Rahul Gandhi’s Congress. It is misogynistic and abhors women.”

Addressing a press conference on the issue, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that this is a new low by the Congress party to disrespect and demean women in Indian politics.

“On one side, there is PM Modi who named the south pole of the moon where India became the first country to land as the ‘Shiv-Shakti’ point and on the other side it’s Congress and their statements about women. This is not just merely an isolated statement by a Congress leader but a structured and well-thought-of dastardly mindset of the Congress party regarding the dignity of women…Hema Malini is of the age of Sonia Gandhi and she is a symbol of self-made women in post-independence India….,” Trivedi said.

Meanwhile, Surjewala has clarified his remarks and accused the BJP of sharing a distorted version of his speech and spreading fake news.

“BJP’s IT Cell has developed a habit of editing, distorting and spreading fake news so that it can distract the country from the Modi government’s anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and failures and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India,” he said.

“Listen to the full video – I said, “We also respect Hema Malini a lot because she is married to Dharmendra ji and is our daughter-in-law,” the Congress leader added.

Hitting out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, Surjewala further said, “BJP’s anti-women pawns were ordered to cut this video, but these same pawns never asked the Prime Minister why he said “Girlfriend worth Rs 50 crores” in Himachal? Why was a woman MP called “Shurpanakha” in Parliament? Why was a woman CM trolled in such a vulgar manner? Is it correct to say “Congress’ widow”? Is it right to call the top leadership of Congress a “Jersey cow”? My statement was only that in public life, everyone should be accountable to the people, be it Nayab Saini Ji, Khattar Ji, or myself. Everyone rises or falls based on their work; the public is supreme and they have to use their discretion in making their choice.”