Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday castigated the Narendra Modi-led government over rising crimes against women in the country, PTI reported.
Speaking in his constituency Wayanad in Kerala, Gandhi said the reason for increasing lawlessness is the breakdown of the institutional structures. “It is because the man who is running the country believes in violence and indiscriminate use of power,” Gandhi alleged.
His comments came amid national outrage over the death of a 23-year-old woman who set on fire by her alleged rapists in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district.
“You have seen the increase in violence across the country,” the former Congress president said. “Lawlessness, atrocities against women. Everyday we read about a girl getting raped and molested. Violence against minority communities and dalits is also increasing.”
Gandhi said now the country is known as the “rape capital of the world”, and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the increase in violence and atrocities against women. “The world used to look towards India for direction, but now they look at us and say the country does not know how to treat its women,” he added.
Gandhi also took pot shots at the Bharatiya Janata Party government over former MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is accused of raping a woman in Unnao in a separate case. “A UP MLA of the BJP is involved in rape of a woman and the prime minister doesn’t say a single word,” he said.
There has been a shocking increase in crimes against women in the past week. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, however, has claimed there is no trend of rise in such crimes.
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