Indian politicos have had a
rather good run with making absurd statements,
at times uncalled for, and getting away with it. In one such example, one
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Madhya Pradesh PL Shakya on Sunday opined
that girls should not make boyfriends and boys should not make girlfriends in
order to curb molestation cases in the country. “In our country women are
worshipped four times, therefore I am not ready to accept that they are
tortured. The data can reveal anything. Western culture should be kept at bay.
Neither girlfriend nor boyfriend should be allowed,” said PL Shakya, who
represents Guna assembly constituency. It may be interesting to note that the
same politician had made an equally stupid statement last year when he declared
Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma’s marriage as
‘unpatriotic’ as they tied the knot in Italy.
In another incident, barely a few
days ago, Attorney General KK Venugopal found himself in a spot after he told
the Supreme Court that data collected for Aadhaar was secure behind walls that
are 13 feet high and five feet thick. Shocked and amused by his bizarre
statement, Twitterati were ‘relieved’ that their data was ‘secure’.
Expressing her opinion on
politicians who make absurd remarks, Stephanie Fernandes, a student from Margao
says, “I feel that the joke is on us. On the one hand, we boast of how the
nation is progressing, and on the other, we have gems like these who govern us
and the country. I think the best, and perhaps the only thing, one can do is note
down the names of these clowns and keep them far, really far from the reach of
a position of power.” Another student, Vikas Belgaonkar says, “A diverse
country like India has far too many complex issues that need to be taken care
of on priority. Whether a girl wears jeans or a bikini and whether or not she
should make boyfriends is not the business of any politician. Leaders should
plain refrain from commenting on personal issues and try and find real
solutions to real problems.”
Statements like the one above and
those below just go on to show how far behind we are as a nation. Also to think
that we let people like these govern us, is scary to say the least. This
perhaps also highlights why we need more young and educated politicians to be a
part of the system.
Other
ridiculous statements made by Indian politicians in the past:
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the rising number of rape
cases was connected to increasing population. She said, “You say rape incidents
are on the rise. But the population is also swelling. Is the population in the
state the same as it was during the tenure of (the state’s second chief
minister) BC Roy?”.
- Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Azmi feels that women too should be punished in rape
cases. In the past, he had said, “If a woman is caught (in a rape case), then
both she and the boy should be punished. In India, there is death penalty for
rape, but when there’s consensual sex outside marriage, there’s no death
penalty against women.” On another occasion, Azmi had made another stupid
statement by saying – “The more the nudity, the more a girl is considered
fashionable. Ants will swarm the place where sugar is.”
- Rahul Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress, while defending himself
from dynasty politics, had said, “Don’t just go after me. Even Mr Abhishek
Bachchhan is a dynast, also Mr Ambani, that is how the entire country is
running.”
- Former
High Court Judge Mahesh
Chandra Sharma enlightened us about the piousness of our national bird. In an
incident that had taken social media by storm, he had said, “The peacock is a
lifelong celibate. It never has sex with the peahen. The peahen gets pregnant
after swallowing the tears of the peacock.”