Rahul Gandhi says he won't apologise for using the term "Rape in India" to speak out against sexual crimes and what he says is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on a former BJP lawmaker's involvemnt in a rape case.
Instead, he's training his guns on the BJP -- which has launched a furious attack on him for his comments -- and accused Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of trying to deflect attention from the unrest in the Northeast, where angry protests have broken out against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
He defended himself in a brief interaction with reporters today, and then posted this tweet, along with an old clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Delhi India's "rape capital".
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Also Read: BJP angry with Rahul Gandhi's Rape In India remark, MPs protest in Parliament
Earlier, both Houses of Parliament had to be adjourned in view of furious protests against Rahul Gandhi's use of the term "Rape in India", based on the name of a government initiative, Make In India.
Arjun Ram Meghwal, the junior minister for parliamentary affairs, said the Congressman should apologise.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, a longtime rival of Rahul Gandhi's who wrested his Amethi seat from him this year, said he had given "a clarion call" that Indian women should be raped.
When Kanimozhi, a DMK MP, defended Rahul Gandhi's comments, Irani said she was "disgusted" and "extremely disheartened" that she couldn't transcend party divsions even on an issue such as crimes against women.