Congress President Rahul Gandhi took the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by surprise last evening. Gandhi gave a call for a midnight candlelight vigil to protest the Kathua gangrape and the Unnao rape cases. Hundreds of Congress workers and Delhi-wallahs joined hands and took out a silent candlelight march at India Gate demanding justice for the rape victims.

India Gate was jam-packed with protesters and TV news channel crews covering the march. The BJP is already on the back foot owing to these two rape cases, which occurred in states governed by them. In the Kathua gangrape case, two BJP legislators had extended their support to the Hindu Ekta Manch – which is trying to defend the seven accused in the case and has attributed a communal motive to the investigation in the case.

BJP in a press conference, on Friday, tried to attack the Congress president by raking up heinous crimes against women that took place during the 1984 Sikh riots.

Speaking to the media, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, “You see their [Congress] plan, first shout ‘minority, minority’, then ‘Dalit, Dalit’, and now ‘women, women’ and then try to somehow fix blame of state issues on the centre.”

Lekhi said, “Don’t politicise the rape cases.” She referred to the rape and murder of a 12-year-old school girl from Assam and said there is no outrage over it. Training her guns at politicians and the media Lekhi said, “A few people are silent on other cases and are trying to raise their voice in other cases.”

She added that issues of states should not be brought to the national level and politicised. Responding to a question on Gandhi’s midnight candlelight march, Lekhi said, “…during the 1984 [Sikh] riots, crime against women – including rape – happened, he never took a candlelight march against it. He was absent during the Nirbhaya [protest]. This policy of ‘pick and choose’ should end.”

Lekhi defending the BJP in Kathua rape case said, “Party has already condemned this act, two individuals (BJP J&K ministers) were misled and misguided by people. Lesson to them is not to believe one side or the other and let the law take its course.”

She said that Jammu Bar Association President B S Slathia had given a call for High Court strike blocking justice for the victim. Attacking the Congress party, she further added, “I am saying it on record that Slathiaji was the polling agent of Gulam Nabi Azad. Understand what kind of dangerous politics is being played.”