The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought a factual report from the provincial election authority of eastern Jharkhand, where elections for the state legislature are on, over opposition Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s reported “Rape in India” remarks during an election rally. The move followed after a complaint from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation.
Gandhi’s comments come against the background of a series of incidents of rape and murder in India over the past few months.
The BJP had also sought an apology from Rahul Gandhi for what they felt denigrated the image of India. The Congress leader however, refused to budge and said, he won’t apologise.
"I won't apologise... Let me clarify what I said. I said the PM keeps talking about 'Make in India'. So when one opens the newspaper one hoped that one would see news about it, but what do we see when we open the papers? We see so many cases of rapes".
Rahul Gandhi alleged Prime Minster Narendra Modi and his party were trying to divert attention from all major issues in the country and even referred to Modi’s own description of Delhi as the “Rape Capital” during an election rally way back in 2014.