Smriti Irani said that a woman’s right to choose her lifestyle is “sacrosanct”. (Archive)
New Delhi:
Politicians don’t have to talk about how people dress, the Union’s Minister for Women’s and Children’s Development Smriti Irani said on Thursday in the first full-throated reply by a BJP leader to the controversial comment on the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s “ripped jeans”.
There are certain things that are sacrosanct and one of them is a woman’s right to choose how she wants to live her life and engage with society as she sees fit, Irani said, speaking at an event organized by the Times Network.
“Regardless, men, women, transgender people, politicians have absolutely no right to speak about how people dress, what they eat, what they do because ultimately our service is to formulate policies and guarantee the state of law. Many politicians have made mistakes – men and women, “said the minister.
Rawat sparked a lot of controversy last week when he suggested that women wearing ripped jeans were degrading society.
Describing the clothing of a woman who sat next to him on a flight that included ripped jeans on her knees and armbands on her hands and with two children traveling with her, she wondered what values she would give them.
“It is not that these particular positions have been taken only by men and I believe that with increasing urgency there is being talked about throughout our country in all communities that there are certain things that are sacrosanct and one of them is the right of woman to choose the way she wants. ” you want to live your life and engage with society as you see fit, as long as you don’t break the law. I have absolutely no right to tell you what to do, “said Ms. Irani.
Responding to a question about why he called the comments of his party colleague, Mr. Rawat, a misstep, he said: “No one in his enlightened mind will make that statement.”
Speaking of the women’s reserve, he said that the BJP was the first party to make a 33 percent reserve within itself.
“People like Nirmala (Sitharaman) and I received our first organizational positions for that. There have been many women who never had the opportunity to occupy higher positions. Today, if you look at the global indexes that talk about the political empowerment of women … .the women who serve in panchayats have not been recognized internationally, “said Ms Irani.
“In India, we have 1.3 million women serving in panchayats, no other nation in the world has such a large contingent of women serving politically that they don’t get recognized. There is this potential that they need more and more opportunities because wherever they have been. women given equal opportunities to compete, they have done well, “he added.
On the #metoo movement in India involving former Union Minister MJ Akbar and journalist Priya Ramani, Irani said that if there is a violation of the law, it is the right of women to seek justice.
“There can be no debate about it,” he said.
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