।। KUMKUM CHADHA।।
BJP’s suggestion that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should wear bermuda instead of a saree has sparked a fresh row in the slugfest between BJP and Trinamool Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.
“The CM wants to show her plastered leg to everyone. Why doesn’t she just wear a pair of Bermudas, instead of draping a saree? I have never seen anyone drape a saree like that,” BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh said.
As if this shocker was not enough, he went on to add: “If she has to display her leg for viewing, she can very well wear Bermuda shorts. That will help to have a better view,” he said during a poll campaign in Purulia. Ghosh is also an MP, representing the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee, it may be recalled, had injured her leg during a campaign at Nandigram earlier this month.
After being treated at a Kolkata hospital, she was discharged from hospital. A few days later, she was back on the campaign trail, addressing rallies on a wheelchair, making it a point to mention her injuries even while asserting that though her wounds are painful, they would not stop her.
Banerjee had alleged that the BJP had hatched a conspiracy to prevent her from campaigning by organising an attack on her: a charge the BJP vehemently denied. The TMC made it known that there was a conspiracy to “kill” Banerjee.
The Election Commission, however, concluded that the Chief Minister had suffered injuries following an accident, due to a security lapse.
Debunking TMC’s conspiracy theory, the BJP, has dubbed this as a “well scripted drama”. Ghosh was in the forefront stating that after the cast was taken off and her foot was bandaged, Banerjee was now displaying her leg to everyone.
“She is wearing saree with one leg covered but kept another kept open for viewing,” the BJP leader said in what has sparked an outrage.
The video went viral, wherein Ghosh can be heard telling an election campaign rally in Purulia, “Plaster kaata hoye gelo, crepe bandage bandha hoye gechhe, aar pa tule-tule shobaike dekhachhen… sari pore aachhen, ekta pa khola ekta dhaka, erokom sari porte dekhini… (Plaster has been cut, there is now a crepe bandage, and [she] keeps raising her leg and showing everyone. [She is] wearing a sari with one leg covered, the other uncovered, I have not see this before…)”
Jodi pa-ta baar kore rakhben, to sari keno, bermuda porte paren, tahole porishkar dekha jaye (If [she] has to keep her leg out, then why wear a sari, [she] could wear a pair of bermudas instead, so that [it] can be seen clearly.)”, Ghosh can be heard telling the electorate.
There were a furore; the knives were out and understandably so, given that it was a kind of hitting below the belt remark. The BJP lost no time and swung into action in what is seen as an exercise in damage control.
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya, said there was no need to create a controversy over the remark stating that often things said at an election should not always be taken seriously:”I think such comments should not be taken seriously… Dilip Ghosh is a generous person. Even if he made such a comment at a rally, it has to be kept in mind that many things are said at election meetings which should not be always considered seriously”.”Ghosh has great respect for the chief minister. So no controversy should be created,” Bhattacharya said.
On his part, Ghosh said that his remarks were an attempt at defending the honor of the saree that all Bengali women wear and that he had merely raised an objection because “people were talking” that it went against the grain of Bengali culture.
The fire may not be doused because the TMC will not let it, but the BJP brass trying to play down Ghosh’s remarks are indication enough that the party could have done without this salvo fired by Ghosh.
This is not the first time that Ghosh has shot off his mouth. In the past too he has been in the eye of a storm spanning from cows milk having gold content to demands that Balakot-like surgical strikes be carried out on Jadavpur university to drive out communists.
Some two years ago, he had come out with cow milk being gold claim: “A feature of the Indian cow is that its milk contains gold. That’s the reason the colour of the milk is yellowish”, Ghosh had said during a programme.
Ghosh is also among those who had advocated drinking cow urine to fight the deadly coronavirus. It is another matter that he had to battle the virus a few months after this claim.
Once again the BJP swung into action distancing itself from what Ghosh had said. Asking for “unscientific beliefs” to be shunned, Lok Sabha member Locket Chatterjee said that these would in no way help in combating the pandemic: “It would rather create more confusion,” she had said.
On Jadavpur University, Ghosh had said that the campus was a hub of anti-nationals and communist activities: “Just like our security forces conducted surgical strike to destroy terror camps in Pakistan, our cadres would also carry out the same type of surgical strike to destroy anti-national hubs in JU campus,” Ghosh had said following an attack on Union Minister Babul Supriyo.
Ghosh is not the only one to court controversy. He has company: his party colleague and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat is standing shoulder to shoulder stoking one controversy after another.
Rawat’s ripped jeans remarks went viral. Speaking about “strange fashion trends” young women follow, Rawat, said that he was shocked to see a mother wearing ripped jeans and boots while she was on a flight with her children: “What kind of message are we giving out to society, to our kids? It all starts at home. What we do, our kids follow. A child who is taught the right culture at home, no matter how modern he becomes, will never fail in life,” adding ,”[Women] showing bare knees, wearing ripped denim and looking like rich kids These are the values being given now [at home]. Where is this coming from, if not at home?,” he had said.
After a controversy erupted, Rawat, kind of modified his statement saying “I don’t mind jeans but even today, I object to ripped jeans”.
However, Rawat’s party colleague and Union Minister Smriti Irani said that politicians have no business talking about how people dress because ultimately their service is of policy making and ensuring rule of law.
There are, Irani reportedly said, certain things which are sacrosanct and one of them is a woman’s right to choose the way she wants to live her life and engage with society as she deems fit. “Irrespective, men, women, transgender, politicians have absolutely no business talking about how people dress, what they eat, what they do because ultimately our service is of policy making and ensuring rule of law. There have been faux pas made by many politicians — men and women,” she said, adding, “I have absolutely no business telling you what to do”.
Given that it was Irani who sought to set the record straight, the party line seems to be clear: keep a distance from unsavoury remarks, those that go against the grain and popular sentiment.
As things have panned out, some among the BJP, its leaders as well as its rank and file, confuse broader perspectives with narrow definitions and shoot of their mouth: an embarrassment the party leadership can well do without and yet cannot wish away.
Had they heeded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to refrain from making irresponsible statements, the Party would not have to press into service senior leaders for damage control.
Some three years ago, Modi had forewarned his motor-mouth MPs and MLAs not to rush to the media, given that their responsibility had increased with the growing public support for the party. The media, PM Modi had then told his party colleagues, often picks up their statements and present them before the public which hurts the party’s image: “Sometimes our workers blame the media. But have we ever thought that we provide ‘masala’ to media through our own mistakes? Whatever be the issue, we start speaking, as soon as we spot a camera. They’ll (media) obviously use parts of your sentences as per their convenience. It isn’t media which is at fault. We’ll have to control ourselves,” PM Modi said.
From the party’s point of view, Modi’s advice comes as a sane voice among the cacophony. Had it been heeded when given, indiscretions could have been avoided and the party saved from embarrassment and unnecessary controversy. Add to that the fact that such statements give ammunition to the Opposition to paint the BJP black over frivolous and thoughtless remarks that to quote a BJP leader are “much ado about nothing”. (ends)
