A Madhya Pradesh minister has backed BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s controversial remarks wherein he equated “badly dressed” women to the demoness Surpanakha from the Hindu epic Ramayana.
On Saturday, Usha Thakur, the Minister for Culture and Tourism in the Shivraj Chouhan-led BJP regime in Madhya Pradesh, came out in support of Vijayvargiya contentious comments and said that a person who doesn’t follow Vedic Sanatan tradition then he or she becomes a vessel for demons and will be called Rakshas Pravriti (characteristics of demons).
Recently, Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is no stranger to controversies, courted yet another row last week with his latest remarks saying that girls who are dressed “vulgarly” look like Shurpanakha— the evil sister of Ravana, the villain from Hindu epic Ramayana.
Speaking at a religious ceremony in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore to mark the Mahavir and Hanuman Jayanti, the senior BJP leader said Indians thinks of women as goddesses but the girls who wear “such bad clothes” don’t look like Devi (goddess), but resemble the demoness Shurpanakha.
Vijayvargiya also urged women to respect their body by wearing “nice clothes” and also advised parents to teach children such values. He said that whenever he sees young people roaming drunk at night, he feels an urge to slap them to sober them up.
The BJP leader’s remarks drew sharp criticism from the Opposition who lambasted Vijayvargiya for using “indecent words” and saying that BJP has forgotten dignity after gaining power.
Reacting to Vijayvargiya’s comments, Women Congress President, Vibha Patel asked the BJP national general secretary to pay attention to what he says.
Patel noted that women in today’s era are paving and leading the way in every field and have the freedom to eat, drink and wear whatever they want and while there should be decorum in the way women dress, leaders should also take care before making undignified comments.
Defending the BJP veteran, party spokesperson Neha Bagga claimed that Vijayvargiya’s comments were being highlighted in a distorted manner and the BJP general secretary only intended to say those things like a parent would.