‘Moral minister’ Harsh Vardhan bats for gays

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, who had earned of the moniker of a ‘moral minister’, has surprised many by stating that he is not on the same page with his party on the gay rights issue. The minister, who had hit the headlines for saying that fidelity is safer than condoms, on Thursday batted for ‘human rights’ of gays and said it was the government’s job to protect their rights. ‘Everybody, including gays, have human rights. It is the job of the government to protect their rights,’ he said on the sidelines of an event. He, however, declined to make further comments when asked to explain his position as his party, BJP, had supported the Supreme Court judgment which had upheld the validity of Section 377 of IPC, criminalising sex among homosexuals.

When the SC judgement on Section 377 came last year, BJP president Rajnath Singh had said the party supports the verdict and will not support any ‘unnatural act.’ Party’s spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said, ‘What Rajnath Singh has said is the official stand. We have a culture and tradition and this goes against it. One cannot allow a new culture of this kind... against the established norms of society.’ Finance minister Arun Jaitley had taken a more liberal position, saying he tended to agree more with the Delhi high court order decriminalising gay sex.