Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh on Monday demanded scrapping of the tradition of putting veil (‘purdah’) by women, saying it was deterrent to their development and growth.
“This system did not exist in the distant past. Did Sita or Draupadi ever don a veil? Some circumstances cropped up later because of which women had to use veil,” Mr. Singh said while addressing the national convention of his party’s women wing.
“We have to work to remove inferiority complex in women. The ‘purdah system’ is a wrong tradition and should be eradicated. Now women have donned uniform. It is time for you to decide about this veil system...Such evil traditions should end.”
Interestingly, Mr. Singh blamed free laptop scheme to students started by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha polls. “We distributed laptops and people heard the campaign speeches of [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi on these very laptops. They were impressed, and we lost the polls,” he added.
