Bhubaneswar: A war of words erupted between the ruling BJD and opposition BJP on Saturday over Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s statement on alleged disrespect to women after his party’s landslide victory in Padampur Assembly bypoll.
Naveen had urged state BJP leaders not to dishonour women entering public life, saying this would never be appreciated by people of Odisha.
In an apparent reference to the Chief Minister’s, senior BJP leader and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said one should not forget that the saffron party got over 78,000 votes which included a good chunk of votes by women.
Stating that the winner in an election becomes happy and exaggerates his scheme of claims, Dharmendra termed the BJD chief’s remark as a sign of ‘arrogance’.
Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as globally accepted as a trusted person working uninterruptedly for empowerment of women, the BJP leader said official data shows the true picture of women safety. Statistics suggest rise in violence against women and sexual harassment cases, the Union Minister claimed.
Reacting sharply to Dharmendra’s remarks, BJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra said the Chief Minister had mentioned how some BJP leaders had made “demeaning, insulting, misogynist and dishonouring personalised remarks” against party candidate in Padampur, Barsha Singh Bariha, a tribal woman who had lost her father.
Patra said, “What message are we sending to women who want to enter public life. That if you enter public life you will be treated with contempt and dishonour. Women participation in public life is already very low in India and these kind of demeaning statements and treatment will further push women away from entering public life.”
Stating that Naveen is not just President of BJD, the Rajya Sabha MP said he is trusted by the people of Odisha for more than two decades especially by women and see him as a senior statesman. “It is his moral responsibility to point out this. It has nothing to do with politics. This is about women’s dignity and their participation in public life,“ he said.
Dharmendra should understand that this is a very sensitive issue regarding disrespect to a woman just entering public life and not treat it as a political issue.
In the process the Union Minister has tried to pull the Prime Minister and the schemes of union government into the statement which is unfortunate and misleading.
“We are sure our beloved Prime Minister and senior leaders of BJP will squarely condemn personalised demeaning statements made against any women dishonouring her dignity in the country including Barsha Singh Bariha”, Patra added.
