A lot of people are upset about what minister Irfan Ansari is said to have said about BJP star Sita Soren before the Jharkhand assembly elections. Many people are against the comments, which were supposedly made after Ansari filed his papers to run for the Jamtara seat. When Sita Soren, who is running against Irfan Ansari, talked about what happened, she started to cry.
Backfilling the Job “Mr. Ansari has been after me ever since I said I was running for this seat.” But the insulting things he said after he filed his bid are wrong and hurtful to the women in the tribal community. “The people in the tribe will never forgive him for this,” she said, shaking her head. Shibu Soren’s oldest son, Durga Soren, is married to Sita Soren.
Earlier this year, Sita Soren joined the BJP after a fight with her family over the chief minister’s job. Shibu Soren’s younger son Hemant Soren quit his job and was later jailed in a money laundering case, which led to this mess. Nawada MP Vivek Thakur of the BJP, who was with her, tried to comfort her when she started to cry.
When the Congress leader said those things, Thakur said they were wrong and that the BJP would hold protests all over the state, not just in Jamtara. When Mr. Ansari spoke out on October 26, 2024, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) took note and sent a warning to the Jharkhand government, asking for a report within three days.
Alka Lamba, the head of the Mahila Congress, spoke out against Ansari’s views, saying that they have no place in political conversation. Lamba said that legal action was needed and pointed out that strict rules have been put in place by Congress governments in several states to fight crimes against women. “Crime should be seen as crime, no matter who is inside or outside the party,” she said. All sorts of rules have been made by the Congress government after the Nirbhaya incident if you have said something rude or hurt someone physically.
The comments were strongly condemned by Lamba, who also said, “We never support this.” This speech is wrong and against the law, no matter who said it—Irfan Ansari, someone else, a woman from any party. We want the law to be used against them. She also said that the Congress party would make sure that the case was handled fairly and that the person responsible would be punished when a new government was formed. The Jharkhand BJP filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Ansari because of the controversy.
They said he insulted both the tribal group and widows in the state with his comments. The BJP’s protest asked the commission to stop Ansari from submitting his nomination and asked for him to be charged with a crime.It’s important to note that the Congress party has often said it supports women’s rights. However, leaders of the party have said some very controversial things that have caused a lot of worry. Some party leaders don’t seem to respect the rights and dignity of women and instead just see them as a vote bank, according to observers.
The party supports the slogan “I am a girl, I can fight,” but it seems to still be stuck in the idea that “she is a girl, so I can say anything.” The Jharkhand BJP went after Hemant Soren and said, “Hemant Soren, it is shameful that you support people who speak so badly about an Adivasi woman who is your sister-in-law and the wife of your late elder brother.” How can someone protect the rights of the daughters and sisters of Jharkhand if they can’t protect the honor of their sister-in-law?” Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is in charge of elections for the BJP in Jharkhand, said, “Those who run a shop of love are merchants of hatred.” Every day, they talk badly about moms, sisters, and kids.
“Respect for an Adivasi woman is not important to him; getting votes is,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also in charge of elections. “Hemant Soren has lost his voice about the insult to his sister-in-law.”
It’s not the first time that leaders in Congress have said bad things about women. Several Congress leaders, from Rahul Gandhi to Digvijaya Singh, have said hurtful things about women in the past. During the 2024 elections for the Haryana Assembly, the party was criticized for similar comments made by Congress leaders and campaigners. One Congress MP, Jay Prakash, used bad language. Things got so bad that Bhupender Singh Hooda, the leader of the opposition, had to make some explanations. Rahul Gandhi said something controversial about star Aishwarya Rai in the Lok Sabha.
He said that the media pay more attention to her dancing than to farmers and workers. During the Bharat Jodo Justice Yatra in Varanasi, he said, “These media houses are owned by Adani and Ambani, and they never show how bad things are for the poor.” In 2013, Digvijaya Singh, who used to be the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said that Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan was “100% genuine.” When the comment caused a stir, he made it clear that he meant to compliment her by calling her “pure gold.” In the past, Sheila Dikshit, who was Chief Minister of Delhi, said that “girls should not be too adventurous” and should dress modestly. Some people didn’t like what Congress leader Abhijit Mukherjee said when he called the women protesting the 2012 gang rape in Delhi “well-groomed women who know nothing about reality.”
During a TV debate in 2012, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said mean things about Smriti Irani. He said, “Yesterday you were dancing for money, and today you are teaching politics.” Kiran Chaudhary, the head of the Haryana Congress, said, “Women should stay home and take care of the kids.” This meant that women had fewer rights to work and more freedoms. Radhika Khera was one of the Congress women leaders who quit the party because she thought women in the party were not treated fairly. These statements show that the Congress party doesn’t take women’s problems seriously. Not only do they show disrespect for women, but they also show that the party needs to change the way it thinks. If the Congress party wants to support women’s rights and equality, its leaders need to change what they say and how they think. If not, these scandals will do a lot of damage to the party’s reputation. As seen with Sita Soren, these comments by congressional leaders are part of a long-term pattern in which they say hurtful things about women and then try to lessen the problems by saying sorry or giving reasons.
At first, Irfan Ansari said hurtful things, but when things got worse, he asked for forgiveness. The head of the All India Mahila Congress, Alka Lamba, said that the party does not agree with any controversial comments or statements, including those made by Irfan Ansari. She also stressed that something should be done about this. With the model code of conduct for the Jharkhand elections still in force, the party will think about what it can do about the incident.