The remarks on women and how they should dress and behave made by National Service Scheme (NSS) project officer Rejath Kumar at the conclusion of the Department of Education’s ‘Moolya Bodhana Yathra’ here on Friday have drawn sharp criticism, with women’s organisations demanding that he criminal proceedings against him.
In his speech at the College for Women, here, Mr. Kumar had said that a woman should lead an obedient life and should not try to do everything that a man does.
“If girls try to jump the way boys do, they would fall and their uterus would be displaced… As a Biology teacher, let me tell you that men need less than 10 minutes to impregnate a woman. However, the women have to bear a child for nine months. All girls must understand this,” he told the audience who were mostly girl students from various schools and colleges.
Mr. Kumar said it was easy for beautiful women to attract men. “You (women) put on a lot of makeup and attract men. However, such a relationship is short-lived, as the husband will lose his interest once the make-up gets blotchy. ”, he said.
When a student of the College registered her protest against all this with catcalls, Mr. Kumar said, “ …let us forgive her. The problem is with the DNA and the gene”.
Rabb reacts
Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb told The Hindu that he had called for the full transcript of Mr. Kumar’s speech at the college. “I will read the full speech and then initiate suitable action,” he said.
Talking to The Hindu, S. Susmitha, a student of the college, said Mr. Kumar had no right to speak this way about women.
He said 80 per cent boys whom he had seen during this programme were innocent while the girls were not. “How can he give such a speech, that too, at a girls’ college. We sat there throughout the programme because we had to. Many were already very frustrated with the kind of language that he was using,” said Ms. Susmitha.
Mercy Alexander of ‘Sakhi’ a women’s group, said a complaint should be registered against Mr. .Kumar for making such derogatory comments about women in a public programme organised by the Education Department. Ms. Mercy said she had already spoken to the State Police Chief on this.
Keywords: NSS, protests, Moolya Bodhana Yathra, College for Women, gender bias
There is a saying in Malayalam, "Fence eating the crop" - a fence erected to protect the crop itself end up devouring the crop. "Moolya Bodhana Yatra" itself sounds like a means to spread superstitions and chauvinistic views of some people.
Mr. Rejath's speech has an obnoxious stench of male chauvinism. It reeks of insensitivity and idiocy. How could the college invite such a person to talk to the students? How can students look up to him as a role model? He is the wrong person to even talk to, let alone lead the next generation. He should be punished for his comments.
The comments by the project officer were indeed non-sense. Someone
should have stopped him from proceeding.
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