AIDWA is deeply shocked by the series of atrocious statements being made by BJP leaders, who are justifying sexual crimes against women by blaming them for becoming victims of assault, rather than focusing on the perpetrators!
The BJP Minister from MP, Kailash Vijayvarghia, has crossed the limits by accusing women of asking for trouble by crossing the lakshman rekha- as Sita did in the Ramayana. At a time when the whole nation is under a wave of mass protests against crimes on women, it is a shame that a state cabinet minister does not understand the real reasons for sexual and criminal assaults on women, but rather, has displayed a totally retrogressive, anti women mentality. This is not the first time Kailash Vijayvargiya has made such derogatory comments on women. In 2012 July on the shocking incident of the molestation of a 17 year girl by a mob in Assam, he commented that women should not wear clothes which provoke others to misbehave with them. The subsequent half hearted withdrawal of the statement by the Minister only adds insult to injury. Such Ministers can hardly be expected to safeguard the democratic rights of women, or other disadvantaged sections of society. AIDWA demands his immediate removal from Ministership, and emphasizes that appropriate action should be taken against him.
AIDWA is also utterly taken aback that Ms Vibha Rao, the Chairperson of Chattisgarh State Women commission, and a prominent BJP leader, has displayed a similar insensitivity and lack of understanding by reportedly remarking that wrong signals are being sent by women through their dress and behaviour. Her attitude to victims of rape in tribal areas is derogatory and insulting to tribal women, whom she accuses of indulging in consensual sex, and then complaining to the police if the couple gets separated. To place such individuals at the head of an institution that is meant to ensure equal rights of women is a grave injustice, and we demand her dismissal.
It is not accidental that the RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagavath has blamed western values for increasing rapes in urban India and claimed that rural India is a safe place for women. The BJP is guilty of repeatedly ignoring the violence perpetrated by the elite and powerful sections of feudal society against the poor, tribal, dalit, landless sections of rural society. His reported comment that such crimes hardly occur in “bharat” - exposes a total disconnect with women’s experience across India, and the extent of sexual violence and assault being suffered by women in rural India. There is sufficient evidence from NCRB data which disproves his assertion. AIDWA condemns the attempt to trivialize and divert the issue by BJP leaders which represent an added injustice to women who have already been denied their rights and dignity. This attempt to drive a wedge in the popular protest in support of women’s entitlement to a violence free life cannot be tolerated. We assert that the India versus Bharat divide that is propounded by the RSS, and which has been repeated by Shri Bhagwat will be rebutted by the united voice of the Indian people who have risen up in protest against sexual violence and attacks on women in our country.
