Union minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday termed as "indecent" Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's remarks that women were not seen in RSS shakhas wearing shorts.
"If Rahulji believes that wearing shorts in India is the sign of empowerment, as a woman I want to contradict it," she said in Amethi.
"Today, an indecent comment has been made on our sisters connected with the Sangh, the Rashtriya Sevika Sangh or the sisters, wives and sisters-in-law of ordinary Sangh workers," she said.
Her remarks came hours after Rahul Gandhi targeted the RSS and the BJP alleging that they did not give any importance to women and asked how many of them were seen attending the Sangh's 'shakhas'.
"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in shakhas wearing shorts?" he said in a sarcastic tone in Vadodara.
The Congress leader said this in course of his Gujarat election campaign that in contrast, women work at every level in his party.
Khaki shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over a year ago.
'Congress must apologise for Rahul Gandhi's remark'
Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel too launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi over his remark and asked the party to apologise for the comment.
She also questioned whether Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi will approve to his words.
"Is this how Rahul Gandhi looks at a woman? He has insulted the women of Gujarat. Take your words back and apologise to the women here. Congress should apologise as soon as possible," she added.
Patel also advised Gandhi to do a Google search to find out facts, adding that RSS has had separate branches for women since a long time.
