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Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew about alliance partner Janata Dal-Secular's Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna's alleged crime of sexually abusing several women, and yet he appealed for votes for him.
Launching a scathing attack on Modi during a press conference in Bengaluru, she showed photos of the PM with Prajwal and said, "He (Modi) not only appreciated him but also sought votes for him (Prajwal) on April 14."
The 33-year-old Prajwal is the grandson of JD-S chief and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, and the son of former minister and current MLA H D Revanna, who too has been accused by a worker of his household of sexual harassment.
The JD-S joined the BJP-led NDA in September last year.
Prajwal Revanna is the NDA candidate in Hassan Lok Sabha constituency that went to the polls on April 26. Nearly 3,000 explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal sexually abusing several women had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also launched a scathing attack on Modi and asked whether being part of "Modi's political family" a "guarantee of protection for criminals".
In a post in Hindi, Gandhi said, "As always, Narendra Modi has maintained shameful silence on the gruesome crimes committed against women in Karnataka."
"The Prime Minister will have to answer: Despite knowing everything, why did he campaign for the devil who exploited hundreds of daughters, just for votes? After all, how did such a big criminal escape from the country with such ease?" the former Congress chief said.
From Kaiserganj to Karnataka and from Unnao to Uttarakhand, the prime minister's "silent support" to the criminals of daughters is emboldening the criminals across the country, Gandhi said.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" he said.
Pointing to Prajwal's social media profile where he claims to be a part of "Modi Parivar", Congress spokesperson Shrinate alleged, "...the extent of what he (Prajwal) has done is absolutely shocking. Shocking to the extent that it makes me think that is this part of a fiction film or is it for real? Not one, not two but nearly 3,000 videos and several women have been sexually assaulted and raped. This is not a sex scandal. This is the biggest rape crime in the history of this country."
She further said, "He is not just a candidate but he is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'favourite'. Modi appealed for votes for him in Mysuru on April 14."
Pointing out that the Karnataka Women's Commission took suo motu cognisance of the alleged sexual crimes by Prajwal and sent a letter to both the superintendent of police and the chief minister, Shrinate said that within hours a Special Investigation Team was constituted and summons have been sent to Prajwal and his father Revanna who is a co-accused in the case.
"Within hours of the SIT being constituted, he (Prajwal) fled the country. One doesn't even know if he had even voted in his own election or not," she added.
Taking a dig at Union Home minister Amit Shah, the Congress spokesperson said he always knows who goes where, and even if Priyanka Gandhi goes to meet her daughter for two days, he knows about it and mentions it in his election rally. "In that case, how did he not get to know about this man (Prajwal) when he fled the country," she asked.
Targeting Prime Minister Modi, she asked how PM Modi could not have known on April 14 what kind of a man this Prajwal was?
"Was Prime Minister Modi ignorant about it...absolutely not. He (Modi) knew exactly who this man (Prajwal) is, he knew exactly what he had done, he knew exactly what crimes that he (Prajwal) had committed. Because BJP's own leader Devaraje Gowda in December 2023 wrote mails and sent letters to Amit Shah, J P Nadda (BJP President), Narendra Modi telling them about this guy (Prajwal) and telling them not to make him a candidate," she said.
She further said that in January 2024, Devaraje Gowda held a press conference and made the matter public, and in that press conference, he had also said that he had shared the evidence with senior BJP leaders and also with the BJP's Karnataka leadership.
The Congress spokesperson alleged that in February-March, when alliance talks were happening with JD-S and Amit Shah had come to Mysuru, several BJP Karyakartas had cautioned them to not make Prajwal a candidate because his alleged crimes.
She alleged that Prajwal did not even spare minor girls and accused BJP of knowing everything and yet having encouraged him.
"When the matter came to light, BJP resorted to lies, and one of the big lies was that the driver had shared details with Congress leadership. Absolute nonsense and an absolute lie. The driver now on record on camera says he has not shared any videos, any pen drive with any Congress leader but only with the BJP leader Devraje Gowda and others," she said.
Citing incidents of crimes against women such as in the case of the Hathras gang rape and murder, Bilkis Bano's gangrape and killing of her child, the Manipur rape and parading naked of two women, and many others, Shrinate said, "Women of this country question how it is that repeatedly when there is crime against women, political patronage and support is given to the perpetrators of the crime and not to the victims themselves."
She also questioned the silence of PM Modi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani and the delay in the National Commission for Women acting on the matter of Revanna's alleged sexual crimes.
"The most celebrated and most decorated athletes of our country whom Modi called members of his family, when they alleged sexual assault charges against the MP (Brij Bhushan Singh), Modi did not act against the MP... The reality is Modi once again stood with the perpetrator of crime and not with the daughters," she said.