Two days after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar courted controversy by saying that in 80-90% of rape and eve-teasing cases the accused and the victim know each other, the Opposition parties on Sunday hit out at the BJP saying that the ''anti-women'' mindset of the party and it's Chief Minister has been exposed.
Deploring the remark made by Haryana Chief Minister, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewla and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Haryana convener Naveen Jaihind took to Twitter to take a dig at Mr. Khattar and the BJP.
Asking Mr. Khattar to apologise for his remark, Mr. Surjewala said in a tweet, “Misogyny is the buzzword for BJP. BJP leaders and Haryana CM Khattarji’s ‘Talibani thought process’ exposed again by his disparaging remarks. Are 80% rape cases false? If boys-girls meet, does it lead to rapes as Khattarji says? Apologise to India’s daughters.”
“Anti-women mindset of Khattar govt exposed! Haryana CM Khattarji makes an utterly condemnable remark - “Most girls who interact with boys, get raped, 80% rape happen with consent” Blaming Women for complete failures to control rapes and Gangrapes? Deplorable!” Mr. Surjewala said in another tweet.
Khattar clarifies
Mr. Khattar, however, denied that he ever made a remark that ‘’rapes happen due to consent”. “I never said ‘consent’, what I said was ‘between known’. And this is not something that I am saying, this has come out of investigations. This should be dealt with at social level, and no politics should be done,” he said on Sunday, talking to reporters.
At a function in Kalka on Saturday, Mr. Khattar had said “...the incidents of rape have not increased, rapes took place in the past and even today as well, the concern has now risen. The biggest concern is that in these incidents of rape and eve-teasing, 80% to 90% take place among them who know each other… for a long time they roam around together, one day there’s an argument and an FIR is lodged that he has raped me.”
'CM should apologise'
Condemning Mr. Khattar’s remark Haryana’s AAP convener Naveen Jaihind said the BJP’s anti-women mindset has been exposed again. “Mr. Khattar should apologise to women,” he added.
