Lucknow: The usage of foul language during electioneering hit a new low Sunday when veteran SP leader Aazam Khan made an "underwear jibe", which the BJP said was made against actor Jaya Prada, fighting the Lok Sabha polls from Rampur against him.
Without naming the actor, who is fighting as a BJP candidate from Rampur, Khan told the gathering in an election rally there "... you got represented (by her) for 10 years. (aapne das saal apna pratinidhitwa karwaya)".
"People of Rampur, people of Uttar Pradesh and people of India, it took you 17 years to understand her reality. But, I could recognize it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear. (Rampur waalo, Uttar Pradesh waalo, Hindustan waalo, usski asliyat samajhne mein aapko 17 baras lag gaye. Main 17 dinon mein pehchaan gaya ki inke neeche kaa jo underwear hai, woh khaki rang kaa hai), said Khan.
The video of Khan's purported speech was also doing the rounds on various social media platforms.
Construing Khan's remark as having made against Jaya Prada, BJP's state unit spokesperson Chandramohan told PTI, "It's a very obnoxious and shameful remark."
"The level of politics cannot fall lower than this," said the BJP spokesperson.
The BJP also asked BSP supremo Mayawati to make her stand clear on "this indecent remark against Jaya Prada."
National Commission for Women Chairperson Rekha Sharma too construed Khan's remarks as having been made against the actor and termed the same as "extremely disgraceful".
She said the women panel will be sending a show cause notice to Khan.
It was 15 years ago that Azam Khan had brought Jaya Prada to Rampur to challenge the political supremacy of the family of Begum Noor Bano, a Congress leader.
Jaya Prada contested and defeated Bano in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. In the next five years, her relations with Azam Khan soured and she moved to the Amar Singh camp.
In 2009 general elections, Azam Khan was shown the door from SP on the issue of his deteriorating relationship with Jaya Prada who won the election.
By 2014, both Amar Singh and Jaya Prada had quit the SP and both lost the elections while Azam Khan returned to the Samajwadi fold.
In 2019, Khan is cautious not to take the name of Jaya Prada but his statements, laced with sarcasm, make it obvious and the people lap up his speeches.
Rampur, meanwhile, is enjoying this theatre of the absurd while it plays out.
The constituency goes to polls on April 23 in the third phase.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
