Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday lashed out at Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for displaying political hypocrisy over the horrific alleged rape and killing of a Dalit girl in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh. Addressing a press conference here, Prasad, who is also a senior BJP leader, questioned the brother-sister duo’s silence over similar horrific crimes in Congress-ruled Rajasthan while kicking up a storm over the incident in UP where the saffron party is in power.
He also scoffed at a question about Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s reported statement that he would not-stop BJP leaders from visiting his state unlike in UP, where the Yogi Adityanath administration thwarted the tour of the former Congress president and the AICC general secretary. I do not attach much importance to Ashok Gehlot. But I want to ask Priyanka Gandhi you indulge in the rhetoric of 18 saal ki beti (18-year-old daughter) getting raped in UP.
Why were you and your brother silent about Rajasthan? The rape victims there too were somebody’s daughters. This is political hypocrisy, Prasad said. To a question about restrictions on journalist’s access to the site of the crime at Hathras allegedly being reminiscent of Emergency, Prasad shot back The country has a disposition wherein all those holding high offices, be it the president, the prime minister, or yours truly – the law minister have gone to jails fighting the Emergency.
He responded with a smirk when asked about the suggestion of a Shiv Sena MLA of Maharashtra that a case be lodged in connection with the Hathras incident in that state and a Mumbai Police team be sent to the UP town for investigation, citing the example of actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death by suicide. “Sushant Singh Rajput was a Patna-born. His father had lodged an FIR here because he resides here and he was not satisfied with the probe conducted by the police in Mumbai where his son had died. I am bemused at the strange parallel being drawn by the Shiv Sena, said Prasad, who represents Patna Sahib in the Lok Sabha.
Earlier, the union minister came down heavily on the opposition for being antagonistic to the recently introduced agriculture bills, alleging They are in fact in cahoots with farmers exploiters. And to protect their own vested interests they have gone in the agitation mode. It is totally false to say that the new bills intend to scrap MSP. Minimum support price is there to stay. The new farm only aim at providing cultivators with more bargaining power to get a better price for their produce, he claimed.
Prasad asked Why did so many Congress-ruled states introduce contract farming if they are so opposed to the very concept. The Narendra Modi is committed to the interests of the country’s farmers but is distressed over the misinformation campaign. All members of the union council of ministers have been directed to dispel the misgivings and I am glad that I have been asked to do the same in Patna, my hometown and parliamentary constituency, he added.
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