Smriti Irani is the Union Minister of Women and Child Development.

New Delhi:

A video of Union Minister Smriti Irani's 1998 Miss India beauty pageant event also joined the ongoing online debate between BJP and Trinamool Congress leaders on the film 'Pathan' on Friday.

Amid controversy over actress Deepika Padukone's orange bikini in a song from the film, Trinamool Congress leader Riju Dutta replied to a tweet by BJP's Amit Malviya with a video of Smriti Irani from the swimsuit round of the competition.

Rang de tu mohe gerua…… pic.twitter.com/KSNmA9wp6h

β€” 𝐑𝐖π₯π₯𝐃π₯𝐭𝐭__ (@DrRijuDutta_TMC) December 16, 2022

BJP MP Locket Chatterjee expressed his displeasure over this tweet, accusing Riju Dutta of being "malicious".

Shame on Mamata Banerjee for appointing such misogynist men as TMC's national spokesperson.

He has no respect for women and the choices they make in life.

They resent successful women and their rise.

Men like him are responsible for rising crime against women.

https://t.co/56WntLxKgb

β€” Locket Chatterjee (@me_locket) December 16, 2022

However, the Trinamool Congress leader hit back, reminding how BJP leaders had defended the rapists of 2002 Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano as "cultured Brahmins".

Oh!

Plz have a Life Madam…First, Stop acting like Saffron is your Party's Paternal Property.

Second, when other women like Deepika Padukone wears saffron the u lot have tremors but when Smriti Irani does, u lot have partial blindness.

Hypocrites!!

β€” 𝐑𝐖π₯π₯𝐃π₯𝐭𝐭__ (@DrRijuDutta_TMC) December 16, 2022

Moreover, I belong to a party whose leader is the definition of women empowerment.

And you from a party that calls rapists "sanskari brahmins".

So please..side has come!!

β€” 𝐑𝐖π₯π₯𝐃π₯𝐭𝐭__ (@DrRijuDutta_TMC) December 16, 2022

The blame game comes amid attacks on the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Pathan' by right-wing social media users backed by some leaders of the ruling BJP at the Centre.

This is the second such campaign against a Muslim film star this year, earlier a similar controversy had arisen over Aamir Khan's film 'Lal Singh Chadha'.

Among those targeting the film was the BJP's Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who claimed that one of the songs in the film showed a "corrupt mentality" and threatened to block its release in the state.

At the center of the 'Pathan' controversy is the allegation that in the song 'Besharam Rang', actress Deepika Padukone wore an orange outfit which, according to its detractors, resembles saffron, which is sacred in Hinduism, and the BJP It is also the main color of the flag.

Smriti Irani's swimsuit video has been cited by many as one of the displays of double standards by those criticizing Deepika Padukone's bikini.

Campaigns based on such absurd pretexts against Shah Rukh Khan and his associates, who are not seen as supporters of the ruling party, have become a threat to the country's huge film industry in recent years.

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