"Unfortunate": Rahul Gandhi On Kamal Nath's "Item" Comment For BJP Leader
20-October-2020

Congress's Rahul Gandhi became the first leader of the party to openly criticize senior leader Kamal Nath for his "item" remark on Imarti Devi, a BJP candidate for the by-elections in Madhya Pradesh.

"Kamal Nath-ji is from my party but personally, I don't like the type of language that he used... I don't appreciate it, regardless of who he is. It is unfortunate," Mr Gandhi told reporters today.

The statement of the former Chief Minister has set off a huge controversy, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan holding a silent protest and writing to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi about the issue.

Imarti Devi had also appealed to the Congress chief, asking if she would have condoned the statement had it been made about her daughter.

"I want to appeal to Sonia Gandhi, who is also a mother, not to keep such people in her party. Will she tolerate it if anybody said something like this about her daughter? If such words will be used for women then how can any woman move forward?" she had told news agency ANI.
The BJP candidate, who had quit the Congress in March along with the loyalists, said it was not her fault that she was a Dalit who came from a poor family.

On Sunday, while campaigning in Dabra, Mr Nath had targeted Imarti Devi.

The Congress candidate Suresh Raje, Mr Nath said, was a "simple person" unlike his opponent who is an "item".

"Why should I take the name (of the opposing candidate)? You all know that person better than me. What an item," Mr Nath said as the crowd responded with cheers and chanted her name.