BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra on Saturday sparked a controversy after he stated that the widows of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack should have "fought back, instead of pleading for their husbands' lives."
Addressing a gathering during his visit to Bhiwani on the occasion of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Jayanti, Jangra said, "The woman should have fought. If they had fought, their innocent husbands wouldn't have been shot dead in front of them.”
“She did not have the spirit. She did not have passion, she did not have zeal, she did not have heart. That's why they folded their hands and pleaded,” he added.
When questioned about the perpetrators of the deadly attack that killed 26 civilians not being nabbed even after one month of the incident, the BJP MP said, “Our army has destroyed the hideouts and masterminds of the terrorists, even if the attackers haven’t been caught.”
Jangra's statements drew widespread criticism with the opposition parties slamming it as "disgusting" and "anti-woman."
Reacting to the comments, Congress MP from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda, alleged that the BJP is constantly insulting the families of the Pahalgam victims.
"Those whose husbands were ruined by terrorists in the Pahalgam attack, now this BJP MP from Haryana, Ramchandra ji, is working to ruin their dignity. This is a very disgusting comment. The BJP is constantly insulting the families of martyrs. This should be stopped," he wrote in a post on X.
Slamming the BJP as a "swamp of anti-women mentality," Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called the statement "shameful."
"Even the word 'condemnable' would object to writing this disgusting statement of the BJP MP about the victimized women of Pahalgam. Instead of worshipping women, insulting them, condemning them and exploiting and harassing them in every possible way is the real face of the BJP, which is both disgusting and extremely shameful. BJP is not a party but a swamp of anti-women mentality," the SP chief wrote on X.
In his speech during the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Jayanti, BJP MP Jangra also targeted Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and accused him of maligning India's reputation abroad.
“No one takes Rahul seriously, nor should they,” he said. The BJP leader, however, praised Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, calling him an "intellectual."