Smriti Irani says Rahul Gandhi should be sidelined as Khera dares RSS to pick a Dalit woman chief

The row over Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh drew in more voices on Wednesday evening, with BJP general secretary Smriti Irani saying the Congress leader should be pushed to the margins of public life and the Congress’s Pawan Khera challenging the Sangh to name a Dalit woman as its head.

Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had written on X on Tuesday: “The RSS is an all-male, anti-constitutional cult that believes women are the property of men.” He added: “What’s beautiful is that many of their ‘own’ women are on my side.”

Irani dismissed the post as “cheap comments” made to stay in the headlines. “It is our duty to ensure that such an individual is sidelined,” she said.

BJP MP Vivek Thakur was more dismissive. “His remarks should not be taken too seriously,” he said. Vishva Hindu Parishad spokesperson Vinod Bansal repeated that Gandhi was suffering from “mental bankruptcy” and said: “Families were present at every event.”

The Congress did not back down. Khera, a Rajya Sabha MP, questioned how the RSS treats women and dared it to appoint a Dalit woman as its chief. Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq of Sambhal also sided with Gandhi. “The RSS’s working style is discriminatory,” he said.

The RSS is marking the final year of its centenary, and its chief Mohan Bhagwat gave his Vijayadashami address in Nagpur on Tuesday, hours before Gandhi wrote.