New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari courted controversy Tuesday with his claim that women in the state consume more alcohol than anywhere else in the country.
Soon after the comments went viral, his BJP counterpart Hemant Khandelwal sought an apology for the “indecent statement against women power”.
“If your son is unemployed and comes home under the influence of drugs, I say this with full confidence that the responsibility for this lies with the BJP, (former chief minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Mohan Yadav. Madhya Pradesh has earned the dubious distinction of women consuming the most alcohol in the country, and the BJP has ruined the situation here,” Patwari told a press conference in Bhopal.
Patwari also claimed that the BJP government’s policies had turned Madhya Pradesh into a state drowned in intoxication from what it was once perceived as the land of prosperity.
“BJP which dreams of ‘Samridh Madhya Pradesh’ (prosperous Madhya Pradesh) has made such a situation,” he added. “I say this with full certainty. The reason I said this is that no other state, not even Punjab, has such a widespread drug trade; most of it happens in Madhya Pradesh. Yet, our chief minister (Mohan Yadav) has never made efforts to free us from this drug menace.”
He accused the BJP of seeking votes in the name of schemes like Ladli Behna, but at the same time it did not take serious steps to protect women from substance abuse.
Terming the comments as “shameful”, Khandelwal alleged that Patwari had insulted the state’s women power by calling them drunkards.
“The shameful statement by Madhya Pradesh Congress president and Rahul Gandhi’s trusted confidant, Jitu Patwari, insulting the state’s women power by calling them drunkards deserves condemnation in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
The BJP state chief further said that on a day when “millions of sisters across the country are observing the fast of Hartalika Teej (a Hindu festival) with devotion and without food, using such indecent and insulting language against women power on this sacred day is not only an affront to Indian culture but also a gross insult to the faith of millions of women”.
Praising CM Yadav’s leadership, Khandelwal said the BJP government was providing respectful financial assistance to the sisters, “which is why the frustrated Congress is now lashing out.” Jitu Patwari must apologise for his indecent statement against women power, he added.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Patwari has insulted the dignity of women across the state through his statement. “Congress which is both anti-development and anti-Constitution, has once again exposed its deeply anti-women face through the extremely condemnable statement of the Madhya Pradesh Congress president,” he alleged.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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