External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday lashed out at BJP's rivals' claims that the party was anti-women.
Addressing a rally in Ahmedabad ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat, Swaraj said, "Rivals call BJP anti-women party, but it gave the country four women chief ministers and four women governors. In addition, there are six cabinet ministers," she said.
Hailing the Narendra Modi-led central government for its 'pro-woman' stance, Swaraj added that prior to this government, which was formed in 2014, no woman was ever a part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that comprises the home ministry, external affairs ministry, defence ministry and finance ministry. While Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley respectively head the home and finance ministry, Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman head the external affairs and defence ministry respectively. "I was made EAM in May 2014 and now Nirmala Ji is the Defence Minister. Two out of 4 CCS members are women now," she added.
While speaking of women's safety, the external affairs minister also added that the BJP would soon launch a panic button yojna to ensure their safety.
Swaraj's comments come days after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi accused the RSS, the parent body of the BJP, of being anti-women. "
"They are not interested in women's rights. How many women are in the RSS? Have you ever seen women in shorts working with RSS? I have never seen. You see women in the Congress all the time. In the RSS you will never see women. God knows what mistakes women have committed that they cannot be a part of RSS," Gandhi told a gathering of women.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi's remarks, Swaraj said that he had insulted women by making such a statement.
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