New Delhi: The National Commission for Women on Monday summoned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashutosh in connection with an opinion piece he wrote for a leading website where he allegedly compared rape accused Sandeep Kumar to Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
Lalitha Kumaramangalam, who heads the women' panel today asked Ashutosh to explain his stand on his comments and directed the senior AAP leader to appear before it on Friday.
"Ashutosh's blog has an objectifying tone against women of the country. The tone of the blog is extremely demeaning towards women," Lalitha Kumaramangalam was quoted as saying by CNN-IBN.
In his column, Ashutosh said the sexual act was a private one between two consensual adults and had been blown up unfairly by the media. He further added that AAP had sacked Sandeep Kumar as a requirement of perception management in remarks that apparently appeared critical of his party's action.
In his blog, Ashutosh also mentioned about alleged affairs of icons like Gandhi and Nehru among other things while defending Sandeep Kumar, who was sacked as minister after a CD surfaced showing him with a woman in a compromising position surfaced.
Reacting strongly to his remarks on Gandhi and Nehru, Opposition parties accused Ashutosh of insulting both Nehru and Gandhi and demanded the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP to sack him from the party.
"AAP spokesperson Ashutosh has tried to malign Mahatma Gandhi by making cheap comments against him, all in order to save the image of his minister who was found indulging in a dirty act,” MoS for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja told media.
Ashutosh, who did not directly questioned the AAP government for sacking Sandeep Kumar, today tweeted that he is revisiting Gandhi's autobiography.
Gandhiji has always given me courage to tell the truth.Reading again his Autobiography-My Experiments with Truth. pic.twitter.com/XZoVv89De1
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016
Gandhiji-If physical fasting is not accompanied by mental fasting it is bound to end in hypocrisy and disaster.(My Experiments with truth)
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016
