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Saturday, August 12, 2006
"She asked for it"
That's the line the home ministry -- including Shivraj Patil, the home minister -- seems to be taking when it comes to violence against women. Consider this report by Monobina Gupta in the Telegraph:
First Natwar Singh, now Shivraj Patil: the senior ministers handpicked by Sonia Gandhi are a disgrace to the people they supposedly represent. I wonder what Mrs Gandhi would have to say about this.
A delegation headed by Renuka Chowdhury, in charge of the ministry of women and children, went to meet home minister Shivraj Patil recently to draw his attention to the rising violence against women.This is appalling. Bal Thackeray's a private citizen, and one can ignore him, but this is the home ministry speaking. Shivraj Patil gets his salary from the taxes we pay; the home ministry runs on those taxes, a fair chunk of which comes from women. I'm lost for words.
[...]
Patil and his officials were far from agitated. Instead of giving the delegation a sympathetic hearing, the officials fired questions as Patil kept quiet. Why do women go out at night? Especially, why do they go out unescorted? Even worse was to come.
The officials started picking on the way women dress. Why do they dress provocatively? Their clothes are such that they invite male predators.
This is exactly what Bal Thackeray’s paper Saamna had written earlier after a rape in Mumbai.
First Natwar Singh, now Shivraj Patil: the senior ministers handpicked by Sonia Gandhi are a disgrace to the people they supposedly represent. I wonder what Mrs Gandhi would have to say about this.
