Political tensions escalate over Rahul Gandhi’s Pune event

The political controversy surrounding the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ youth outreach event in Pune has intensified, drawing criticism from multiple BJP leaders. During the program, Rahul Gandhi addressed female students on topics including safety, sexual harassment, and the necessity of challenging patriarchal norms, arguing that violence hinders women’s progress.

In response, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused Gandhi of hypocrisy, citing the Congress party’s opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill. Fadnavis has continued this critique in subsequent political forums, such as the BJP Maharashtra State Executive Committee meeting in Pune, where he labeled the INDIA bloc partners as the ‘true killers of women’s reservation’ and questioned the lack of female representation in cabinets within Congress-governed states.

BJP Maharashtra vice-president Keshav Upadhye further criticized the event, labeling it a ‘political comedy show’ and alleging that the Congress party utilized college buses to transport students to the gathering for political purposes. In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accused Gandhi of being a ‘Hindu baiter’ who employs women’s rights as a ‘smokescreen’ to target Hindu Dharma.

At a recent BJP Maharashtra State Executive meeting in Pune, Fadnavis expanded his critique of the Congress and the former UPA government, specifically targeting the NCERT history curriculum. He alleged that under the UPA, textbooks devoted 13 pages to the Mughals while reducing the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to a single paragraph, whereas the current administration has increased coverage to 17 pages.

Meanwhile, the Congress party is continuing its ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ campaign, with plans to move the initiative to Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on September 12 to address issues such as employment and examination integrity.