Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Smriti Irani on Sunday asked Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to validate his words on supporting women by backing the implementation of the 33% reservation for them in legislatures.
The remarks came a day after the Congress leader, at the Pune leg of his “Chhatron Ki Goonj” campaign on Saturday, described women as the “strength of India” and urged them to fight for their space and stand up against patriarchal norms. Interacting with girl students at the event, Gandhi urged them to “smash patriarchy” and lashed out at “Manusmriti mindset”, claiming that it forces a woman to remain under the authority of male relatives at every stage of her life.
Irani then turned to comments on Hindu religious references made at that same Pune event. She linked this to the ongoing dispute over Vande Mataram’s rendition at the Congress headquarters. Irani is not the only BJP leader to have raised the issue recently. Congress has so far responded to the wider Vande Mataram controversy rather than to Irani’s specific remarks. “Vande Mataram and the National Anthem are emotional things for the Congress party. But it is political for the BJP.
I humbly ask him to support the Prime Minister’s initiative, specifically the swift implementation of the law providing 33% reservation for women and enabling them to take on leadership roles in Parliament,” she said. Following the controversy, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said after a Congress Working Committee meeting that the party would continue reciting only the first two stanzas at its programmes, citing a 1937 resolution associated with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Earlier reporting noted: Support women’s quota implementation, full Vande Mataram rendition: BJP to Rahul Gandhi BJP general secretary Smriti Irani on Sunday (August 23, 2026) asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to validate his words on supporting women by backing the implementation of 33% reservation for women in legislatures and also organising the singing of a full version of Vande Mataram that includes invocation of Goddess Durga at his party office. Earlier reporting noted: Interacting with girl students at his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ outreach programme in Pune on Saturday (August 22), Mr. Earlier reporting noted: The former Congress president also said violence is used in society to prevent women from progressing and that 80% of them face harassment.
Irani said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brought in the law granting 33% reservation for women “across the country” to strengthen their place in Parliament, and had appealed to all parties to cooperate on its swift rollout. “Rahul Gandhi has said at an event that he supports women. “Remarks regarding the Hindu religion were made at that Congress leader’s event yesterday,” she said, adding that since he had “invoked religion,” she had “one further request” for him. “The lines of Vande Mataram that were halted at the Congress headquarters actually contain a reference to Goddess Durga,” Irani said, describing the goddess as an embodiment of “Shakti,” and said a full rendition at the party’s headquarters “would reflect the interest and inclination” Congress has shown towards women’s issues. Doing so, alongside backing the reservation law, she said, would let Gandhi “give shape to his words” on women’s empowerment. The Vande Mataram row erupted after visuals from the Congress headquarters’ Independence Day event showed party president Mallikarjun Kharge and parliamentary chairperson Sonia Gandhi conversing while the national song played, which the BJP said amounted to disrespect and demanded an apology for. She had earlier this week accused Congress of insulting the national song, while Union minister Rajnath Singh separately called the party’s Vande Mataram stand “unconstitutional,” tracing it to the same 1937 resolution. Venugopal said after the CWC meeting there was “no confusion” over the party’s position and that it would abide by the 1937 decision. This is the difference between them and us,” he said, calling the row over the Independence Day visuals a “communication gap. Gandhi urged girl students to “smash patriarchy” and lashed out at “Manusmriti mindset”, claiming that it forces a woman to remain under the authority of male relatives at every stage of her life.
