After Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar’s contentious remarks on Indian women “wanting to stay single and not wanting to give birth after marriage”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary CT Ravi has made an equally controversial remark, saying that Western influence and the culture of micro families are the reason why women want to stay single.
However, this is not the first time an Indian politician passed such judgments on women and their choices. Here’s a look at ten such instances from the past.
BJP leader Dayashankar Singh’s Comments on Mayawati
In 2016, then BJP’s Uttar Pradesh vice-president Dayashankar Singh compared Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati to a prostitute, according to reports. “Even a prostitute fulfils her commitment to a man after she is paid. But Mayawati, such a big leader in UP, sells party tickets to anyone who pays her the highest amount. If someone gives her Rs 1 crore for a ticket, she will give it to the other person who is offering Rs 2 crore,” Singh told reporters, repeatedly using the word “vaishya” in Hindi.
KPCC President Mullapally’s Remarks on Woman
In 2020, then Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran landed in controversy for making sexist remarks against a woman. In a function, he stated that the LDF government was utilising a “adulteress” to file cases against Congress leaders. He was referring to the woman who had spoken out against the UDF leaders in connection with the solar fraud. He then apologised for his remarks in the same location.
The KPCC president said during the start of the UDF’s ‘betrayal day’ in front of the Secretariat to oppose the CPM-led government, “The LDF government, which is facing various corruption allegations, are now depending on an adulteress to divert attention and file cases against UDF leaders. This woman had cried that the entire state had raped her. We can understand if a woman gets sexually abused once. But if it gets repeated, then any woman with self esteem would either commit suicide or try to prevent such a thing from happening again. But this woman has been saying she was repeatedly abused.”
Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ‘Boys Will be Boys’ Jibe
In 2014, in the run-up to elections in the state, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed capital punishment for rape, saying “ladke ladke hain, galti ho jati hai (boys will be boys, mistakes can be made).”
He stated at a gathering in Moradabad, “Ladkiyan pehle dosti karti hain. Ladke-ladki mein matbhed ho jata hai. Matbhed hone key baad usey rape ka naam dey deti hain. Ladko sey galti ho jati hai. Kya rape case mein phasi di jayegi? (First girls become friends with boys. Then when they have differences between them, girls level rape charges. Boys commit mistakes. Will they be hanged for rape?).”
Digvijaya Singh Uses Slang for Party Member
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in 2013 gave Rahul Gandhi’s aide Meenakshi Natarajan an extremely sexist ‘compliment’. When he was speaking to party workers in Indore, he referred to Natarajan as “sau tunch maal,” a slang term used in North India to tease women. “Our party MP, Meenakshi Natrajan, is a Gandhian, simple and an honest leader. She keeps going from place to place in her constituency. I am a seasoned smith of politics. Meenakshi sau tunch maal hai,” he said.
‘Dented Women’ Protesting for Fame: Abhijit Mukherjee
Abhijit Mukherjee, former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son, stirred outrage in 2012 when he made a derogatory remark about women protesting the Delhi bus gangrape case. “I would term the protests in Delhi as what is popularly known as Pink Revolution. It is becoming fashionable to land up on the streets with candle in hand. Such people are completely disconnected from reality. They go to discotheques. I am very well versed with student activism and I can bet on it that most of the protesters are not students. They are dented and painted women chasing two minutes of fame, giving interviews on TV. The protesters do not fall in the age group of students,” he said.
BJP’s Gopal Shetty’s Comments on Urmila Matondkar
In 2019, BJP’s Gopal Shetty went on the offensive, stating that actor Urmila Matondkar was picked exclusively by the Congress on the basis of her appearance. “Urmila ji has been brought to politics because she is a celebrity and because she is a celebrity, she has been brought due to how she looks, why anyone would feel bad about it, there’s no reason… She is a bholi bhali ladki who is zero in politics.”
Protesting in Sun Could Ruin Marriage Prospects: Former Goa CM
In 2015, then Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar warned protesting nurses that a hunger strike in the sun could ‘ruin their matrimonial prospects.’ “When we visited the Chief Minister about our demands today in Ponda, he advised the girls should not go on hunger strike in the blazing weather because their complexion will darken and they will not get a nice bridegroom,” one of the nurses told PTI. However, the then chief minister did not respond to the controversy. His office, on the other hand, said in a statement that “we don’t think he would say something like that.”
Rapes Can be Stopped With ‘Sankskaar’: BJP’s Surendra Singh
UP BJP leader Surendra Singh said in 2020 that “rape crimes can be stopped only with sanskar (culture), not governance.” The BJP politician, known for his provocative remarks, was responding to a query about the rise in crimes against women in the aftermath of the gangrape and murder of Dalit woman in Hathras. “I am a teacher along with being an MLA. Such incidents (like rape) can be stopped only with sanskar (culture), not with shasan (good governance) or talwar (referring to sword or might),” he said.
Wives, Like Cricket Victories, Grow Old: Sriprakash Jaiswal
In 2012, Congress lawmaker Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was the coal minister at the time, compared cricket victories to wives, saying that both grow old and become “not as fun as [they] used to be.” Jaiswal made these remarks at a poetry gathering in Kanpur immediately after India defeated Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20. When his comments hurt many, Jaiswal apologised but said that his remark had been taken out of context.
Kailash Vijayvargiya Calls Priyanka Gandhi ‘Chocolaty Face’
Taking a jab at the Congress over Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in 2019, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that the party was fielding “chocolaty” faces in Lok Sabha elections due to a lack of strong leaders. “A Congress leader demands that Kareena Kapoor should be fielded from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. Sometimes others talk about fielding Salman Khan from Indore. Likewise, Priyanka (Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) was also brought into active politics,” Vijayvargiya told reporters here.
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