Kamal Nath was addressing a campaign meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Dabra (archive)
Bhopal:
A video of Madhya Pradesh’s former chief minister, Kamal Nath, using the word “element” apparently for a former colleague who switched to the BJP has created a furor amid the campaign for the by-elections of the assembly next month.
Addressing a campaign rally in Dabra, where Congress faces Imarti Devi of the BJP, Nath said that his party’s candidate was a “simple person” unlike his opponent, who is an “element.”
“Why should I take the name (of the opposition candidate)? Everyone knows that person better than I do. What a topic,” Nath said amid cheers from the crowd that kept shouting “Imarti Devi” as the comments were made. .
Fighting back, Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to say: “Imarti Devi is the daughter of a poor farmer” who rose to become a public servant after starting out as a village worker.
By referring to a woman as an “element,” Congress and its leadership have revealed her “feudal mindset,” Chouhan tweeted. The Chief Minister will sit in a silent protest from 10 am to 12 pm on Monday.
Imarti Devi also confronted Kamal Nath for the comment. “What is my fault if I was born into a poor family? What is my fault if I belong to the Dalits? I want to appeal to Sonia Gandhi, who is also a mother, not to keep those people in her party. If those words are will use for women, so how can a woman advance? “he told the ANI news agency.
A BJP delegation met with Election Commission officials in Bhopal and complained against Mr. Nath for “insulting women and Dalits”.
Ms. Devi and 21 other MLA members loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia had resigned from Congress and the State Assembly and joined the BJP in March, overthrowing the Kamal Nath government.
By-elections for 28 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 3 and the results will be declared on November 10.
(With PTI inputs)
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