Hyderabad: September 7, BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao on Monday criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the alleged police action against BRS women legislators during a protest at the Telangana Assembly. Rama Rao questioned Rahul Gandhi’s stance against patriarchy, alleging that police in the Congress-ruled State manhandled BRS women MLAs for wearing black sarees.

In a post on X, Rama Rao said Rahul Gandhi speaks about fighting patriarchy, while women legislators in Telangana were allegedly “smashed and thrashed” by the police simply for wearing black sarees. He particularly referred to former Home Minister and BRS MLA P. Sabitha Indra Reddy, saying she had been fighting patriarchy long before Rahul Gandhi entered politics.

Rama Rao described the alleged conduct of the police as a “blot on Indian democracy” and questioned whether wearing black had been banned in Telangana or was permitted only in Parliament.

The remarks came after BRS legislators wearing black T-shirts and sarees to protest what they described as the Congress government’s failure to fulfil its electoral promises in 1,000 days were stopped from entering the Assembly premises.