BJP leader Smriti Irani on Friday questioned Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s commitment to his recent call for “smashing the patriarchy”, asking why the party had not taken political action against its Manipur MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam despite allegations by female students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and reports of an internal inquiry into the matter.Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Irani said the issue raised questions about the Congress’s approach to allegations of sexual harassment involving one of its own parliamentarians.Irani referred to media reports about complaints by female students against Akoijam, a Congress MP and JNU professor, alleging that he had sought to exploit students in the context of marks. She said an internal complaints committee at the university had conducted an inquiry in accordance with the law and claimed that the allegations against the MP had been substantiated.“Why has no political action been taken against the Congress MP?” Irani asked, questioning Kharge’s silence on the matter.Her remarks came as she sought to contrast Kharge’s public rhetoric on gender equality with what she described as the Congress’s handling of allegations against its own leader.Irani also invoked Kharge’s January 15, 2025 remarks, in which the Congress president had said that the party’s fight was not against BJP but against the “Indian State”. She said the statement was unprecedented in India’s political history and alleged that Kharge and the Congress had subsequently continued to target constitutional institutions.“Never before in the political history of our country has a political leader declared war on the Indian State,” Irani said, arguing that an attack on the Indian State was effectively an attack on citizens and institutions through which the democratic system functions.The BJP leader then returned to the issue of patriarchy, saying slogans were easier to deliver than to implement in practice.Irani also referred to a recent confrontation involving Kharge and a woman police officer in Delhi, using it to question whether women could expect the Congress leadership to act against an MP facing allegations of sexual harassment.“Slogans are easy for him, but to practise them in life is difficult,” she said, arguing that the controversy surrounding Akoijam had exposed what she called the gap between the Congress’s public messaging and its actions.The BJP leader also used the press conference to claim that recent electoral results demonstrated the resilience of India’s democratic institutions and the growing electoral presence of BJP.Referring to results and trends from Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam, Irani said BJP workers had reasons to celebrate and cited Nandigram and Reginagar in West Bengal and Nagaon in Assam as examples of the party’s electoral performance.She said the results demonstrated the “collective wisdom” of Indian voters and showed that the constitutional framework remained robust enough to deliver on the promise of democracy.The BJP’s attack on the Congress comes amid a wider political contest over the credibility of constitutional institutions, with both parties accusing each other of undermining democratic norms. Irani’s remarks sought to turn that debate towards the Congress’s handling of allegations against one of its own MPs, making the Akoijam issue the central test of the party’s claims on gender justice and opposition to patriarchy.