MP polls: PM Modi's 'Beti Bachao' campaign mere slogan, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of merely sloganeering about women's safety but actually "protecting" a BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh who has been charged with rape and murder.

Picking on Modi's slogan of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao", he said they also felt good about it.

"But when BJP MLA (Kuldeep Singh Sengar) rapes a girl in Unnao, the UP Chief Minister and the Prime Minister tried to save him. Neither was he expelled from the party nor did the PM speak a word about him. The actual slogan should be 'Beti Padhao aur Beti ko BJP ke MLA se Bachao' (educate daughter and save her from BJP MLA)," Gandhi said addressing a public meeting here.

Gandhi's attack on Modi and his government comes in the midst of the raging #MeToo campaign in which Union Minister M.J. Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment and wrongdoing by women journalists who had worked with him and demands that he be removed from the Cabinet.

Gandhi said even in Madhya Pradesh, women are afraid of moving out of their houses and same is the condition all over the country.

"He (Modi) has place only for industrialists in his heart, not for women, Dalits and farmers. He stays quiet if anything happens to them," the Congress chief said.