New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) Congress vice president RahulGandhi today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on theissue of crime against women in Gujarat and raised concernsover their safety, even as he accused him of merely makingpromises.
Gandhi asked his fifth question in his "a question a day"series in the run up to Gujarat assembly elections anddemanded answers over the alleged failure of the Modi-ledgovernment in fulfilling the promises.
Launching a counter-attack, Minority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi alleged that the questions showed the"feudal fantasy" of the Congress.
"The women got neither safety, nor education ornutrition, but only exploitation. From Anganwadi to ASHAworkers, everyone was disappointed. Only promises were made tothe women of Gujarat and it was never their intention tofulfil them," Gandhi tweeted.
He also tagged a picture carrying statistics on womensafety, education and health.
"Why is Gujarat ranked 3rd in women trafficking, 5th inacid attacks and 10th in the rape of minor girls...Why are thetwo most important cities, Ahmedabad and Surat, ranked amongthe top ten in crime against women in India?" it claimed.
"Why does Gujarat lag behind at 20th place in girl childeducation? Why has female literacy rate dropped from 70.3 percent to 57.8 between 2001 to 2011? Why has maternal mortalityrate risen to 85, putting the state at number 11 in 15 statesin reduction of MMR," it asked.
The Congress leader, who is leading his party's pollcampaign in the western state, had earlier accused the primeminister of "commercialising education at the cost ofgovernment schools and institutions, and hitting students hardwith fee hikes".
The tagline of his posers to the prime minister is "22salon ka hisaab, Gujarat mange jawaab (Gujarat demands answersfor 22 years of BJP rule)".
Gandhi had earlier asked Modi why public money was"squandered" in purchasing power at higher rates from privatecompanies in Gujarat.
He also asked why the people of Gujarat should pay forthe "financial mismanagement" and publicity by him.
Hitting back, Naqvi alleged, "Those who cannotdifferentiate between 'burger and baingan (brinjal)', 'pyaz(onion) and pizza' and 'cake and banana' are trying to become'champion of questions'. This is the Congress' feudalfantasy."Congress spokesperson Suhmita Dev later claimed that noneof the top BJP leaders had any answers to the questions raisedby Gandhi.
He said the Congress was contesting this election for thebetterment of Gujarat and of its people, including women,youth and the poor. PTI SKC ENMAAR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.