Mathura (Uttar Pradesh): After Congress leader Randeep Surjewala sparked a row with his alleged 'derogatory' remarks on BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini, the latter said on Thursday that the leaders of the opposition should learn how to respect women from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to the reporters here, before filing her nominations for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP leader and Bollywood veteran said that the opposition targets only 'popular people'.
"They target only popular people because targeting the unpopular ones won't do them any good... They should learn how to respect women from PM Narendra Modi," she said.
Hema further expressed her happiness over her re-nomination in the Lok Sabha elections from Mathura.
"I am very happy to get the opportunity to serve the people of Mathura for the third time. I will finish the work that could not be done in my two terms. This time, huge development projects will be launched for the people of Mathura. UP CM Yogi Adityanath extends all possible help for Mathura," she said while speaking to ANI.
Notably, the general elections for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases, with the first scheduled for April 19. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4.
Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of MPs, 80, to Parliament, will vote in all seven phases.
Voting for phases one and two will be held on April 19 and April 26. Next, the state will once again poll in phases three and four on May 7 and May 13. The Uttar Pradesh electorate will also vote in phases five, six and seven on May 20, May 23 and June 1, respectively.
Mathura will poll in the second phase of the general elections on April 26.
Nearly 97 crore voters will be eligible to get their fingers inked as polling is held for 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country.
The elections will be conducted at 10.5 lakh polling stations, under the supervision of 1.5 crore polling officials and security staff.
After facing a backlash from the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party over his alleged objectionable statement against BJP MP Hema Malini, Randeep Surjewala on Thursday clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor-politician.
Surjewala's clarification comes after BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya shared an undated video on X and accused the Congress MP of making some objectionable remarks about Hema Malini.
"Congress MP Randeep Surjewala makes a vile sexist comment, that is demeaning and derogatory, not just for Hema Malini, who is an accomplished individual, but women in general. He asks, 'Why do we make MLA? So that they can raise their voice, and get our views accepted. Is there any Hema Malini who is made to lick?' Who thinks of women as something to lick? That is the most disgusting description someone can come up with. Just the other day, Surjewala's colleague was asking the 'rate' of another BJP woman leader, and now this... This is Rahul Gandhi's Congress. It is misogynistic and abhors women," Malviya posted on X.
Referring to this, Surjewala said that the video posted by the BJP leader has been edited, distorted and shared to distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India.
"BJP's IT Cell has developed a habit of editing, distorting and spreading fake news so that it can distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and failures and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India," he said.
"Listen to the full video - I said, "We also respect Hema Malini a lot because she is married to Dharmendra ji and is our daughter-in-law," the Congress leader added.
—ANI