Rahul Gandhi hits out at PM on crime against women in Gujarat

Gandhi asked his fifth question in his "a question a day" series in the run up to Gujarat assembly elections and demanded answers over the alleged failure of the Modi-led government in fulfilling the promises.

Launching a counter-attack, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi alleged that the questions showed the "feudal fantasy" of the Congress.

"The women got neither safety, nor education or nutrition, but only exploitation. From Anganwadi to ASHA workers, everyone was disappointed. Only promises were made to the women of Gujarat and it was never their intention to fulfil them," Gandhi tweeted.

He also tagged a picture carrying statistics on women safety, education and health.

"Why is Gujarat ranked 3rd in women trafficking, 5th in acid attacks and 10th in the rape of minor girls...Why are the two most important cities, Ahmedabad and Surat, ranked among the top ten in crime against women in India?" it claimed.

"Why does Gujarat lag behind at 20th place in girl child education? Why has female literacy rate dropped from 70.3 per cent to 57.8 between 2001 to 2011? Why has maternal mortality rate risen to 85, putting the state at number 11 in 15 states in reduction of MMR," it asked.

The Congress leader, who is leading his party's poll campaign in the western state, had earlier accused the prime minister of "commercialising education at the cost of government schools and institutions, and hitting students hard with fee hikes".

The tagline of his posers to the prime minister is "22 salon ka hisaab, Gujarat mange jawaab (Gujarat demands answers for 22 years of BJP rule)".

Gandhi had earlier asked Modi why public money was "squandered" in purchasing power at higher rates from private companies in Gujarat.

He also asked why the people of Gujarat should pay for the "financial mismanagement" and publicity by him.

Hitting back, Naqvi alleged, "Those who cannot differentiate between 'burger and baingan (brinjal)', 'pyaz (onion) and pizza' and 'cake and banana' are trying to become 'champion of questions'. This is the Congress' feudal fantasy." 

Congress spokesperson Suhmita Dev later claimed that none of the top BJP leaders had any answers to the questions raised by Gandhi.

He said the Congress was contesting this election for the betterment of Gujarat and of its people, including women, youth and the poor.