The Haryana State Women Commission on April 4 issued summons against senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala for making “indecent” comments against actor-turned-politician Hema Malini during an election rally.
He was directed to be present at the commission’s office in Panchkula on April 9.
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The MP made the alleged remarks at a rally in support of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party’s joint candidate and former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Gupta. The video of his purported speech was widely shared on social media.
Mr. Surjewala, in a post on his X account, however, said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell was in the habit of “distorting and editing and spreading lies” to divert the country’s attention from the Modi government’s “anti-youth, anti-farmer and anti-poor” policies, and the conspiracy to finish the Constitution.
“Listen to the full video – I said: ‘We have great respect for Hema Malini ji because she is married to Dharmendra ji and is our daughter-in-law’. My statement was only that everyone’s accountability be fixed in public life be, it Nayab Saini ji, or Khattar ji or myself’,” said Mr. Surjewala in his post.
Posting the controversial video on X, BJP’s Mandi Lok Sabha candidate Kangana Ranaut said the Congress had opened the “shop of hatred” while it was talking about the “shop of love”. He said the comments showed the Congress leaders’s “frustration” and “exasperation” in the face of certain defeat in the election.
