The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed as ‘condemnable’ and ‘misleading and unacceptable’ the remarks made by Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Parliament on the newly appointed Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi, as well as the remarks later made outside the House by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. Lok Sabha MP Anil Baluni, the BJP’s media cell convenor, put out a strong statement on behalf of the party after the remarks were made. He stated that the misleading remarks made by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra regarding Union Education Minister Prahlad Joshi, and the subsequent baseless comments by Rahul Gandhi in support of Priyanka Vadra’s statement, are extremely unfortunate and condemnable.
The reference made by Ms. Vadra and Mr. Gandhi to a comment by Mr. Joshi in the said matter was completely incorrect, he further said. Mr. Joshi had, in fact, not made the remarks pertaining to the case of gangrape survivor Bilkis Bano, Mr. Baluni said. The Union Education Minister, Prahlad Joshi, did not make any such statement.
He had merely commented on the legal process and not on the matter itself, Mr. Baluni added. A war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress during the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Public Examination (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which includes stringent provisions to punish those found leaking exam papers. While Ms. Vadra’s remarks were expunged by the Speaker, Mr. Gandhi, outside Parliament, referred to Mr. Joshi as ‘filthy’ for the latter’s reported comments on the release of Ms. Bano’s rapists by the Gujarat government on August 15, 2022, which was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2024.
The debate on the Bill is to resume on Wednesday (July 29, 2026), with both Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Joshi piloting the Bill, and Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh set to speak before the passage of the Bill. Rahul Gandhi also criticized the BJP for assigning the Education Ministry to Pralhad Joshi, calling him the ‘defender of rapists.’ Gandhi said, ’After the young people protested against the education system, after so many girls were beaten up during the protests, BJP puts up a man who is the defender of rapists. That is the most filthy type of man.
There can be no filthier man than somebody who says that rapists need protection.’
