The BJP slammed Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring’s “my wife goes out all dressed up in bindi and lipstick” comment, calling it sexist and anti-women. The BJP also demanded an apology from the Ludhiana MP.

On Wednesday, November 6, while campaigning for his wife Amrita Warring for the upcoming Gidderbaha bypoll, Raja Warring courted controversy by saying, “He goes out at 6 am wearing lipstick and bindi and comes back at 11 pm. She is of no use. it’s out of my hands, find me someone else.”

“After the polls, she will also attend weddings and funerals. Please ensure a victory in the polls so that she starts respecting me, knowing that she won the election because of her husband,” the Lok Sabha MP said.

Amrita is the Congress candidate for the Gidderbaha Assembly constituency, which fell vacant after Amrinder Singh Raja Warring vacated the seat earlier this year following his victory in the Ludhiana Lok Sabha poll.

Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu attacked Amarinder Singh Warring, accusing him of disrespecting women and reflecting his “petty mentality”.

“I was surprised to hear him (Amrinder)… What is he trying to tell women? He says his wife (Amrita Warring) wears a ‘surkhi-bindi’ and leaves home at 6 am and returns at 11. pm What does this mean?… You have used wrong words to convey the wrong message… Would you should apologize to all the women. I am agitated by the message you want to give, that it is women who go out to work no other work… This shows your petty mentality… You have made a reprehensible statement…,” Bittu said.

Amrita is making her poll debut in the Gidderbaha polls, taking on BJP’s Manpreet Singh Badal and Aam Aadmi Party’s Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon.

The by-polls will be held in four assembly seats in Punjab on November 20. The votes will be counted on November 23.

(With contributions from Aman Bhardwaj in Punjab)