Indian politicians have never been famous for their intellect or smartness. But in the past couple of years or so they have showed us that let alone be smartness, expecting them to be sensible and appropriate can also be too much at times. Even an extremely sensitive issue like rape gets mocked by some of our tiny headed leaders. The recent ban on Nirbhaya’s documentary can also be considered as an after effect of the extremely conservative mimdset of the politicians, who have a proper justification of a hideous crime like rape as well.
I won’t get into the debate of whether the ban was right or wrong, but I will definitely like to point out a few names who have openly defended rape. It feels disgustingly amazing when these leaders step on the podium and give statements in support of one of the most inhuman acts possible, rape. Here are those eight politicians who have proudly defended rape in the past few years.
#1 Mulayam Singh Yadav – When everybody wants the laws to get stricter in order to stop rape cases, an ex Chief Minister comes up and says that he wants to relax the punishment because mistakes like these from boys are inevitable according to him. At a public meeting in Moradabad, the chief of Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh, supported rapists by saying,
Boys make mistakes. They should not hang for this. We will revoke the anti-rape laws.
#2 Om Prakash Chautala – Former Chief Minister supported the Khap Panchayat when they suggested that the minimum age of marriage for girls should be reduced in order to avoid rape. His statement was,
I am with the khaps on this issue. This will protect women.
#3 Mamata Banerjee – Commenting on the increase in the number of rape cases in India, Mamata Banerjee said,
Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open options.
I guess according to Mamata Banerjee, girls should not be even allowed to talk to boys if we want to stop the rapes.
#4 Vijayvarigya – A brilliant example, which this BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh gave was of ‘Sita-Haran’, saying that girls should stay in their boundaries or else bad (in this case rape) will happen with them.
#5 Sheila Dikshit – Since we are talking about boundaries, let me mention another ex Chief Minister who believes that girls should stay in their limits. She said,
One should not be adventurous being a woman.
I seriously have no clue how do we define the word ‘adventurous’ here.
#6 Akhilesh Yadav – Like father, like son. When a journalist questioned him during a press conference on in the increase in number of rapes in Uttar Pradesh, his reply was, “Aapko toh khatra nahin hua?” I think that means until the journalist himself doesn’t get raped, he cannot ask this question.
#7 Mohan Bhagwat – The chief of RSS says,
Rape is primarily a side effect of westernization, and hence more common in urban areas. Villages that embody the national spirit do not have a rape culture.
Probably Mr. Bhagwat knows a completely different meaning of westernization than what we know.
#8 Banwari Lal Singhal – This one is an all time classic from the mouth of a BJP MLA from Rajasthan. You cannot expect a more typical statement than this,
Rape? Blame it on the skirts!
I don’t think I need to say any more.
