On the 10th of March, Tirath Singh Rawat was replaced as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand succeeding his precursor Trivendra Singh Rawat over discontent among the state’s cadre’s leaders, workers, and MLA’s. Days after holding the highest office in the state’s government, he passed on two contentious remarks in which the latter one spurred nationwide denunciation.
While speaking at the Netra Kumbh festival at Haridwar, he claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be considered as an avatar (incarnation) of Lord Ram and Krishna in the upcoming times because of the miraculous service he is offering to the nation. The public shunned this remark, albeit Rawat faced a backlash from senior Congress leaders who declared this remark intense sycophancy of the Prime Minister.
On Tuesday, last week, while delivering his speech during the workshop organized by the State Commission Of Child Rights, he said: ‘Once, I boarded an airplane where a behen ji was sitting next to my seat, when I glanced at her, she was wearing gumboots, ripped jeans exhibiting her bare knees, and several bracelets on hand. She had two children traveling with her. Her husband is a professor at JNU. I asked: You run an NGO, wear ripped jeans at the knees, move about in the society, your children are accompanying you, what values will you impart?’
The Chief Minister also termed ripped jeans as ‘kainchi wala sanskar’ (scissor culture), he also claimed it is being taught that one will not be called rich without ripped jeans and bare knees. Rawat further added that people in India wear ripped jeans while those in other countries cover their bodies properly and practice yoga.
When his remark mounted to a hysterical point, he realized and apologized for it, but said he is still firm on his stance that he doesn’t endorse torn jeans as it doesn’t exhibit our ”culture”.
His remark infuriated and drew fulmination among women, who felt offended and strongly protested against the CM’s misogynist remark by trending hashtags such as #RippedJeansTwitter and #RIPMysoginy and flooding the micro-blogging site by posting and flaunting their snapshots in ripped jeans.
These sorts of vague, unrigorous, and sexist remarks project BJP as a male-dominated, patriarchal, and stereotypical party which results in the decline of the vote share of the elite and literate, urbane youth and women population to the BJP. Also, it tarnishes the party’s image in the national and global media. Hundreds of thousands of articles (like this one!) are written, innumerable debates take place on the television criticizing the ruling party and its ethics. Moreover, the crippled opposition finds a pertinent opportunity to castigate PM Modi and the BJP as a threat to India’s democracy and feminism(including the RSS).
A handful of pseudo-feminists and bogus left-wing trollers unnecessarily and deliberately dragged the RSS in an out-of-context debate and pointed out that the RSS had a long culture of wearing short khaki pants exhibiting the wearer’s bare knees. A few images of PM Modi, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and former CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis also surfaced on the social media sites in which they were dressed in khaki pants, white t-shirts, and cap, the typical RSS uniform. Now, yet again, it was proved that the hardline left and the Communists-Marxists use these sorts of controversies for targeting and defaming the RSS.
Unequivocally, it can’t be denied that the newly appointed CM of Uttarakhand gave a sexist remark and should certainly consider changing his mindset and attitude. In my viewpoint, the topmost leadership of the BJP needs to be vigilant about its leaders and their remarks. Also, they must augment the amount of liberalism towards women and should refrain from commenting about women’s attire and way of living. For example, in 2019, Gaurav Bhatia, one of the official spokespersons of the BJP, lashed out and advised Rohan Gupta, the Congress spokesperson to wear bangles and petticoat (the symbol of ‘ignominy’ in the Indian society) to which the anchor Rubika Liaquat strongly reprimanded and made him realize he was insulting the entire women population unintentionally. Misogynist and irrational remarks diminish the credibility of an elected representative, and he/she should try to desist from this. The BJP must not forgo and omit their pro-woman image, it must be the BJP that revered Rajkumari Kaul, her intellect, and extra-marital affair with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
This stereotyping of women and her ”unsullied” character is not confined to the BJP leaders, it is prevalent across all political spectrums. We have other misogynist leaders of the Samajwadi Party, like Abu Azmi, who said that boys often rape when they are zealous, and his supremo, the ex-chief minister and Lok Sabha MP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, once said that: ‘Boys will be boys, they commit mistakes’.
Also, the common Indian men need to avoid certain cliches about women’s attire. A woman’s attire has nothing to do with her attributes and ethics. The need of the hour is to change this turn of mind that a woman’s get-up and garments define the essence of her attributes. This pernicious mindset is the consequence of patriarchal hierarchy in Indian society. And for India, to be a flourishing liberal superpower, this gigantic gender gap needs to be bridged.
