Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh got into a war of words on Thursday and accused each other of being misogynist and anti-Dalit after a former minister likened problems like the economic slowdown to daughters and a Dalit leader was purportedly served food in a disposal plate.
Jitu Patwari, the former minister from Congress, provoked outrage when on Wednesday he tweeted: “Five daughters were born namely demonetisation, goods and sales tax (GST), employment, inflation and economic slowdown while anticipating a son called development (vikas).”
He deleted the tweet after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hit out at him and the Congress and called them anti-woman. Patwari regretted his comments and said daughters are like goddesses. “My tweet was to suggest how people have been waiting for years for development promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but they got instead demonetisation, GST, unemployment, inflation and economic slowdown which have broken the backbone of the economy.”
Chouhan accused the Congress of insulting women and asked Sonia Gandhi, the party chief, to apologise to the nation and sack Patwari.
The Congress accused BJP of being anti-Dalit and said it has a “prejudiced mindset” when a photograph purportedly showing Dalit leader Prabhuram Chaudhary being served food on a disposable plate in front of his upper-caste BJP colleague, Ashutosh Tiwari, who is seen eating from a metal plate, went viral on (social media?). HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress accused BJP of being anti-Dalit and said it has a “prejudiced mindset” when a photograph purportedly showing Dalit leader Prabhuram Chaudhary being served food on a disposable plate in front of his upper-caste BJP colleague, Ashutosh Tiwari, who is seen eating from a metal plate, went viral on (social media?). HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo.
{{/usCountry}}Chaudhary was among the 22 lawmakers whose resignations in March brought down the Congress government in the state and allowed BJP to return to power. He has since joined BJP.
Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma said the difference is clearly seen in how respect was given to the upper caste leader and how Chaudhary was treated. “Being a member of the Dalit community does not mean that the former minister [Chaudhary] can be treated like this.”
Tiwari could not be reached for his comments while Chaudhary refused to comment.
BJP leader Hitesh Bajpai said Tiwari carries his own plate due to some health issues and now because of Covid-19. “It is unfortunate that Congress jumps the gun without trying to know what really happened. Congress wants to create an issue as it knows it cannot win by-polls without raising non-issues.”