BJP slams Congress over Neha Bora’s video; INDIA bloc allies too call it ‘radical thinking’

BJP attacked the Congress party on Tuesday over the viral video of left-wing student activist Neha Bora whom it accused of slandering the Hindu faith and echoing Rahl Gandhi’s ‘anti-Hindu tirade’. BJP called Bora the “poster girl” of Rahul Gandhi’s anti-Hindu politics.

Bora said in the video that women require protection from the ‘Brahmanical system’ and that priests commit rapes inside temples.

BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said Bora’s remarks sounded like the anti-Hindu tirade of Congress party. He added that Bora’s remarks are similar to what Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had said and that her statement reflected an ideological campaign against Sanatan dharma.

In 2014, reacting to the gang rape of a woman in Delhi, Rahul had remarked that people who go to temples to worship goddesses also molest women in buses.

‘Slandering Sanatan, targeting the Hindu faith’

“It’s the same Congress party which has used terms like ‘Hindu terror’. Recall that Neha Bora is inspired by Islamists in Bangladesh and this tells you that the entire Congress ideology and thinking are against the unity and integrity of India because they are slandering Sanatan and they are targeting the Hindu faith, which reflects their communal mindset. This further tells you that the DNA of the Congress party is anti-Hindu, anti-Constitution, anti-Sanatan,” he added.

The latest row erupted after Bora of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) made the remarks while backing an impeachment resolution against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

“Protection is absolutely necessary - and it is precisely from the Brahmanical system that such protection is required. This is a system which posits that the poor, the oppressed, animals and women are all deserving of subjugation and abuse. It is the very same system under which even Brahmin women are unsafe and fall victim to rape. Priests commit rapes inside temples. We have witnessed such instances,” Bora said.

‘Simply unacceptable’: Samajwadi Party on Bora’s remark

Congress ally Samajwadi Party also distanced itself from the remark of Left-wing student leader, who gained limelight under the patronage of INDIA bloc leaders for criticising CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Samajwadi Party MP Rajeev Rai said, “Making such a sweeping statement is not appropriate. Every religion has both good and bad people; we shouldn’t make such generalisations... We should avoid them. That is exactly what the BJP wants; why should we fall into their trap?”

Rai, who represents the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, firmly repudiated the AISA leader and said, “In this day and age, the kind of rhetoric being used is simply unacceptable. There is no basis for it. We shouldn’t make sweeping generalisations about any caste, community, religion, or region.”

‘Derogatory language, radical thinking’

Uddhav Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also called Bora’s remarks “unfortunate”. “It is highly unfortunate. While I believe this may be an old video, it reveals a mindset that asserts rapes happen in temples, are committed by priests, and that Brahmin women are unsafe. I generally avoid focusing on caste, but as a Brahmin woman myself, I must ask: is it appropriate to use such derogatory language? I have always maintained that this kind of radical thinking—whether from the Left or the Right—is harmful to the nation, the former Rajya Sabha member said.