Kathua rape: BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi hits out at Congress, accuses media of selective outrage

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi in a press conference on Friday alleged that the Congress is politicising the Kathua rape and murder case, and also accused the media of selective coverage of crimes against women and girls. “You see their (Congress’) plan: first shout ‘minority, minority’, then ‘Dalit, Dalit’ and now ‘women women’ and then try to somehow fix blame of state issues on the Centre. All this while ignoring the strict action being taken by state governments,” Lekhi said. Further, Lekhi mentioned the rape and murder of a 12-year-old student in Assam’s Naigaon village earlier this month. She remarked, “Doesn’t this case warrant the national media’s attention like the Unnao And Kathua cases?” [caption id=“attachment_4430241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi addressing the media on Friday. Twitter/@BJP4India[/caption] Also, commenting on the Unnao rape case, Lekhi said that a probe into the incident was ordered as soon as the chief minister’s office received the victim’s letter naming the accused BJP MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Her press conference a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi held a midnight march to protest crimes against girls and women in the country. “What happened in Kathua is beyond humanity, an 8-year-old was kidnapped, brutally raped by many men, including a juvenile and tortured till she died. This defies all human values we have grown with as a society”, Rahul had said in Delhi. Taking note of the communal turn given to the Kathua rape and murder case, Lekhi said, “I would like to say it on record that the Jammu Bar Association president BS Slathia was the polling agent of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. One can understand from this what sort of dirty politics is being played.” She demanded for justice to be served in both the cases irrespective of the victim’s caste or religion. As the two crimes evoke nationwide outrage, Opposition leaders have been criticising Narendra Modi for his silence on the issue. Earlier on Friday, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted to urge Modi to speak up on the matter. He said that the 8-year-old victim shouldn’t be someone the prime minister chooses to remain silent about. Prominent politicians, including Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi have called for death penalty for such crimes. “The Ministry of Women and Child Development intends to bring an amendment in POCSO Act asking for death penalty for rape on children below 12 years of age,” Maneka had said in a video message.