New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday accused Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi of allegedly “manhandling” a female journalist during the INDIA Bloc’s march a day earlier, while the Congress hit back claiming that the BJP was “scripting narratives” after being unable to counter the allegations regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, who met the pregnant journalist after she was admitted at a hospital, told reporters, “She told us how Rahul Gandhi shoved and pushed her to the ground. She was not even asking them questions, just covering the protest.”

“Not a single Congress worker helped the journalist after that. Rahul Gandhi, who keeps on saying ‘smash the patriarchy’, himself behaved like a goon. He even shoved his own party workers,” Bhandari alleged.

“The way he manhandled the journalist, proves that Rahul Gandhi harbours immense hatred for the country’s democracy and women. That is why both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are silent on the (sacked) JNU professor (from Congress) who is accused of harassing 11 female students,” Bhandari alleged.

However, Congress MP Jebi Mather hit back at the allegations, saying: “BJP’s strategy is to anyhow put across allegations on Rahul Gandhi. One of Rahul Gandhi’s identity is his respect for women. Yesterday also he was taking care of and protecting a young leader, Neha Bora and Priyanka Gandhi.”

“All this makes it clear what is Rahul Gandhi’s approach towards women and it is evident how much he respects women. BJP is cooking up stories and scripting narratives because they do not have anything to counter the main argument put forth by Rahul Gandhi, Congress, the INDIA Bloc and by the people. So, they want to point fingers and create stories. We are just ignoring these because the nation knows what Rahul Gandhi stands for,” she told IANS.

Mather, in turn, pointed to the detention of women protesters, alleging that Meta is removing videos of women being attacked during the protests.

“We are witnessing the influence of the ruling government, which is trying to remove media content using its power. Social media platforms are being controlled by the government,” she claimed.

Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat also said: “The BJP has been rattled by the massive public turnout yesterday and is making such allegations.”

RJD MLA Bhai Virendra also came in support of Rahul Gandhi, saying: “Such allegations are being made by supporters of the BJP. Our leaders, whether Tejashwi Yadav or Rahul Gandhi, cannot indulge in such wrong acts.”

–IANS

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