Amit Shah accuses Rahul Gandhi of 'misogyny', asks him to apologise to Indian women

BJP chief Amit Shah Wednesday accused Rahul Gandhi of resorting to "misogyny" and "insulting" women with his 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a woman to defend him in Parliament' remarks, saying the Congress president owed an apology to Indian women.

Calling Modi a prime minister who claimed to have a broad chest, Gandhi said he had "run away" from the debate in Parliament on the Rafale deal last week.

"The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a woman, Sitharaman ji, defend me. I won't be able to defend myself, defend me," the Congress leader said at a farmers' rally in Jaipur.

Shah said the Congress and its leaders owed an apology to "India's Nari Shakti".

His attack came hours after Modi at his rally in Agra targeted Gandhi for his remarks and accused the Congress leaders of insulting the country's women.

Shah tweeted a video of the prime minister's rebuttal to the Congress chief and said, "Defence Minister outstanding speech in Parliament has silenced the opposition. Unable to counter her on facts, they are resorting to misogyny".

The Congress leader, in another speech, again accused Modi of running away from the debate on Rafale, but this time did not refer to the defence minister.

In his speech, Modi applauded Sitharaman for her parliamentary address on the controversial jet deal, saying she floored the Opposition in the Lok Sabha by coming up with "fact after fact" on the deal.

"They are bent upon insulting a woman defence minister," Modi said without naming Gandhi.

"This is not an insult to a woman, but an insult to entire India's women power, for which these irresponsible leaders will have to pay the price," he said.

The prime minister added that it was a matter of pride that a woman had become the defence minister of the country for the first time.