BJP slams Ashok Gehlot after he links unemployment to rape; 'Shocker of a justification'

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over his statement linking unemployment to rape. Gehlot on Friday created a stir after he said that the growing cases of rape and other crimes were due to the frustration of people from ‘lack of jobs’. Reacting to the statement, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala slammed the Rajasthan CM and termed it a "shocker of a justification" for rising number of rape cases in the state.

“Shocker of a justification for rapes. Rajasthan CM Gehlot says rapes take place due to unemployment! By the way Rajasthan unemployment is above 20% for over a year but this is shocking,” Poonawala said in a tweet. The BJP spokesperson made the comment while sharing images of headlines quoting Rajathan CM’s remarks. “Shantilal Dhariwal says ‘Rajasthan is no1 in rapes as it’s a Mardon ka Pradesh’,” he added.

Furthermore, Poonawala went on to accuse the Congress leader of avoiding blame in the matter and also mentioned the rape allegation against Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi’s son. “Earlier Mr Gehlot said most rape cases were fake Time and again there is a Balatkari Bachao Andolan. There are serious rape charges on a Minister’s son (Mahesh Joshi’s) and on MLA Meena’s son.. were they unemployed?” Poonawala wrote.

He further questioned why Priyanka Vadra, who began the ‘ladki hoon lad sakti hoon’ campaign, is silent in the matter. “Where is “ladki hoon lad sakti hoon” Priyanka Vadra,” he asked in his tweet.

The BJP national spokesperson’s comments came after the BJP in Rajasthan slammed Gehlot for his comments. BJP’s national general secretary Arun Singh had termed the statement by the CM as being “extremely shameful”.

Ashok Gehlot links rising unemployment to rape

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot started a stir after he linked rising unemployment in the country to the rise in the number of rape cases. Making a controversial statement, he said, “Crime is increasing due to unemployment because unemployed youth live in frustration. When a man is frustrated, then he does drugs, and commits crimes. If incidents of crime and rape are to be reduced, then employment should be increased.”

Gehlot further added that it was the government’s responsibility to give people jobs. He added that “otherwise crime and other incidents will increase”. The Congress leader said this while accusing the Centre of distracting the people from the issue of unemployment with other matters.