The Congress on Sunday hit out at the BJP over its Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra’s comments on the Pahalgam terror attack victims, saying the party leadership’s silence should be seen as a “tacit approval” of the remarks.
Jangra on Saturday said the tourists who lost their lives in Pahalgam should have put up a fight against the terrorists and women who lost their husbands in the terror attack “lacked” the spirit of “warrior women”.
“Wahan par jo hamari veerangnayein behane thee, jinki maang ka sindoor chheen liya gaya, veerangna ka bhaav nahin tha, josh nahin tha, jazba nahin tha, dil nahin tha, isliye haath jod ke goli ka shikaar ho gaye. Lekin haath jodne se koi chhodta nahin. Hamare aadmi vahan par haath jodkar maare gaye (Our sisters who lost their husbands in the attack did not have the warrior spirit or the resolve and vigour to fight back. Therefore, they became victims. Terrorists do not spare those who request with folded hands. Our men died with folded hands),” Jangra said at an event in Bhiwani organised to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Queen Ahilyabai Holkar.
In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra’s shameful statement has once again exposed the petty mentality of RSS-BJP. MP Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda insulted our brave Army, but PM Modi did not take any action. MP Minister Vijay Shah made lewd comments on our brave colonel, but has not been sacked to date.”
In the post, Kharge noted that when the wife of a naval officer killed in Pahalgam was being trolled on social media, “Modi ji was silent even then”.
“Narendra Modi ji, you say that you have sindoor in your veins… If that is so, then you should sack these foul-mouthed leaders of yours for the respect of women,” Kharge said.
Echoing the party chief’s sentiments, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh alleged that BJP leaders were constantly insulting the Army and those killed in Pahalgam, “which exposes their petty and lowly mindset”.
“This shameful statement of Jangra shows that the BJP, intoxicated with power, has become so insensitive that instead of blaming the security lapse… in Pahalgam… BJP MPs are questioning the martyrs and their wives,” Ramesh wrote on X.
Pointing out that the BJP has taken no action against Shah and Devda, he said the new statement is “highly objectionable”. “Why should the silence of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP leadership not be considered a tacit approval of these statements? Our clear demand is’ Prime Minister Modi should apologise for this shameful statement and expel MP Ram Chander Jangra from the party,” Ramesh added.
Jangra is known to be close to Union Minister and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who told reporters in Karnal, “Jangra expressed a sentiment, but it was presented in the wrong context. Making comments about women who have lost their husbands is not appropriate. It was indeed a mistake, and he has expressed regret. I believe this issue should now be considered closed.”
This is not the first time that the 75-year-old Jangra has sparked a row. Last December, he alleged that 700 girls had disappeared during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation on the Delhi border, blaming it on “drug addicts from Punjab”. A day later, he clarified that he had just recounted what people were gossiping about. In November 2021, during the protest, a group of agitated farmers attacked Jangra’s vehicle in Hisar district. The police, however, managed to rescue him.
Jangra is from an Other Backward Class (OBC) community and was appointed to head the welfare board for the state’s Backward Classes and economically weaker sections in 2015. In March 2020, he was picked as the BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate and entered the Upper House of Parliament, where he is a member of the Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs; the Hindi Salahkar Samiti; the Consultant Committee for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment; and the Committee on Official Language, among other things. In the Upper House, he has an attendance of over 98% and has participated in over 115 debates so far. He has asked 37 questions so far, including a recent one on “role of women in advancing the goal of Viksit Bharat” on December 11 last year.
Jangra was born in Meham, Rohtak, on May 8, 1950, in a family of farmers. He started his political journey with Lok Dal (Bahuguna), unsuccessfully contesting the Assembly election from Safidon in 1987. In 1991, he contested from Meham on a ticket of the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), and again from Karnal in 2004. He lost both elections. He moved to the BJP after the HVP merged with the Congress. He was appointed the state president of the party’s OBC wing and received an Assembly poll ticket again in 2014 when he was fielded from Gohana. His luck, however, did not turn, and he lost again.
Five years later, Jangra was again in the running for the Gohana ticket, but this time, the party went with Tirath Rana. But Rana, too, failed as the Congress’s Jagbir Malik retained the seat for the party. The following year, the party decided to send Jangra to Parliament and following the announcement of his nomination, the veteran leader described himself as a “true soldier of the party”.
“I had been working as the party’s ordinary worker for years. Whatever duty was ever assigned to me, I fulfilled it with utmost honesty and dedication. This time too, I will do the same,” he said at the time.
