India ‘walking backwards’ under BJP rule: TMC

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday attacked BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya for his sexist remark that girls wearing “bad dresses” look like Surpanakha.

Trinamool Congress leaders said such remarks reveal the “low mentality” of the saffron party. Trinamool also claimed that India is “walking backwards” under the BJP rule.

A video of Vijayvargiya’s remarks, made at a religious function organised in Indore on the occasion of Hanuman and Mahavir Jayanti on Thursday, went viral on social media.

Millennium Post has, however, not verified the video.

“We see goddesses in women. But (with) the kind of bad dresses the girls wear and move around, they do not embody goddesses but look like Surpanakha. God has given you a good and beautiful body…. dress well, friends,” he was seen saying in the video.

In the popular version of the epic Ramayana, Surpanakha was the sister of demon king Ravana.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar tweeted: “This openly sexist remark reveals the low mentality of the party. “ Another TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev asked: “Who defines dirty clothes? Shameless & shameful. Kailash Vijayvargiya.”

TMC also slammed Vijayvargiya on its official Twitter handle. “India continues to walk backwards under the leadership of PM @narendramodi. Senior @BJP4India leaders are now comparing women to demoness for simply choosing to wear what they please!”

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, on the other hand, described the BJP leader’s comments as “sexist and misogynist”.

“BJP leader Vijayvargiya said when women do not wear clean dresses they appear as demons. The BJP has gone to the highest level of humiliating women. Will India go forward or will it go backwards? Women who work even if their dresses are not clean, a leader will issue such remarks. These people talk about Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao,” senior Trinamool leader Sashi Panja lashed out at BJP.

“The DNA of @BJP4India is repeatedly exposed through its dirty mouthpieces. Who defines dirty clothes for chauvinists like him. Shameless & Shameful. Kailash Vijayvargiya: Senior BJP Leader Compares Girls In Dirty Clothes To Demoness,” TMC leader Sushmita Dev said on her Twitter handle.