Rahul has 'foreign mentality': BJP MLA who linked rape to sanskar

Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Uttar Pradesh Surendra Singh hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday, alleging that he is a man of "dual character" and "foreign mentality" and he should learn nationalism and the country's culture from "nationalists".

Singh was reacting to Gandhi's tweet on his controversial statement on Saturday that "rapes can only be stopped if parents teach sanskar (values) to their daughters".

Gandhi reacted to Singh's remark, saying on Sunday, "This is the filthy RSS male chauvinist mentality at work. Men do the raping but women need to be taught good values."

He had also tagged a newspaper report on Singh's statement in his tweet.

On Monday, the BJP legislator from Bairia constituency, in Ballia district, responded to Gandhi and said the former Congress president "is totally ignorant" about the Indian culture.

"Rahul is a person of dual character and foreign mentality. He is totally ignorant about Indian culture," Singh told reporters at his residence. "He will understand the definition of nationalism if he takes tuition from nationalists. He could not understand the crux of the country's culture."

"The dual characters of Rahul and Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra) became obvious during their journey to meet the victim's family in Hathras. While they were laughing during their journey, they shed tears at their homes," Singh claimed.

The Congress leaders met the family on Saturday evening, after an earlier attempt by them was scuttled by Uttar Pradesh authorities, who briefly detained them and other Congress workers in Greater Noida outside Delhi. They have declared that they will fight for justice to the Dalit woman who died a fortnight after being allegedly gang raped on September 14.

Speaking on the incidents of rape, the BJP legislator said, "Immoral works cannot be stopped till the head of the family - the father or the mother - don't monitor the activities of the daughter or the son."

For a "cultured society", government and family support are necessary, Singh said, adding that he stands by his statement given earlier.

Singh in his earlier statement had said, "It's the duty of all mothers and fathers to imbibe good values in their daughters and bring them up in a cultured environment. I am a teacher and MLA. Such incidents (like rape) can be stopped only with 'sanskar' not with governance or or might."