Manipur video: BJP response on a loop, asks what about Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar

In his initial remark regarding the violence in Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made reference to purported atrocities against women in the Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. On Saturday, the BJP launched a coordinated counterattack along similar lines.

Senior party figures cited incidents of violence against women in states ruled by the opposition, such as West Bengal and Bihar in addition to Rajasthan.

The BJP in West Bengal claimed that two indigenous women had been attacked and stripped in the Malda area. According to the Trinamool Congress, the incident occurred locally and was a result of the women's alleged theft.

MS Malda Six people were detained after a suo motu case was filed, according to Pradeep Kumar Yadav. A gang of ladies were allegedly seen abusing two other women in the event on a video clip. According to a senior police officer, the women were beaten by neighbourhood shopkeeper women after being apprehended on suspicion of shoplifting.

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, accused opposition politicians of being silent on assaults against women in states that are not BJP-ruled during a press conference he gave at the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

According to him, Rajasthan is currently "the number one state in crimes against women." "In the last four years, Rajasthan has recorded over 1 lakh incidences of crimes against women. In Rajasthan, there have been 33,000 incidences of sexual assault against women, according to Thakur.

Will Chief Minister (Ashok) Gehlot tender his resignation when his own minister claims that the CM has lost his authority, when a woman is murdered and burned in his home district, and when a woman is raped and left to die 5 km from his residence? Thakur asked in reference to the dismissal of a Rajasthan minister, Rajendra Gudha, hours after he criticised the state government on crimes against women.

After that, Thakur turned his attention to West Bengal, saying, "Mamataji, I don't know if there is any'mamata' (endeavour) left in your heart or not, but humanity was shamed when in Howrah's Panchla area, more than 40 goons of the TMC paraded a woman naked on the day of the panchayat polls and the candidate contesting the election was beaten up, insulted." The West Bengal Police have refuted this.

In the Begusarai district of Bihar, a young woman, according to Thakur, was molested.

"Whether it occurs in Manipur, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, or Chhattisgarh, crime against a woman is crime. They are indistinguishable. State action is required. However, all they want to do is play politics. They are playing politics instead of providing evaluations of the state they lead, he added, adding that "the country is watching."

According to Thakur, the BJP was not avoiding a debate in Parliament, unlike what the opposition had claimed. "We are neither avoiding our obligation to do so nor avoiding taking part in the discussion. But at the very least, (the Opposition) ought to quit playing politics with crime against women. I kindly request that the opposition parties attend Monday's session of Parliament, when there will be a discussion of the extensive list of crimes against women that have been reported in those parties' states, he said.

Smriti Irani, the minister of state for women's and children's affairs, also mentioned West Bengal and Rajasthan. The fact that a minister spoke out against atrocities against women in Rajasthan yesterday is really frightening. He was abruptly let go by the Congress party. The video of two Dalit women being ruthlessly assaulted and stripped off in West Bengal's Malda area, which is currently trending on the Internet, is equally terrible. In my opinion, the Congress was not interested in learning the truth regarding the crimes against women committed in Rajasthan. The Congress does not want a discussion (in Parliament) about the issues that have arisen in the state of Manipur because they are hiding the truth about them. Because it is desperate for a partnership with the TMC, the Congress is a silent observer of the killings of innocent people in the state of West Bengal,'' she claimed.