Tirath Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand came under fire for making offensive remarks at an event on March 16. At the event, he questioned how women wearing ripped jeans would be able to impart values to their children.
He linked young women following fashion trends such as 'ripped jeans' to lack of values, drawing heavy criticism from the Opposition.
Among Congress leaders to hit back at the new CM was Priyanka Gandhi.
"Oh my God!!! Their knees are showing", she tweeted, using photographs of RSS workers including a young Narendra Modi clad in khaki shorts above the knee.
''These days ripped jeans are very popular with the women... Is it our culture?,'' Rawat said while speaking at a function at Dehradun.
Rawat earlier narrated an experience of how he once sat on a flight beside a woman with two children, wearing boots, ripped jeans, and bangles. The woman had introduced herself as a social worker.
''I wondered what kind of social service must she be doing when she herself wears such clothes... The situation was not the same during our times'', he said.
Surendra Singh, BJP MLA from Bairia in Uttar Pradesh, backed him up saying men and women should wear 'decent clothes', emphasising 'women' and 'daughters'. The MLA said women were the family's 'prestige' and must behave in a 'dignified manner'.
Soon after, Congress leaders such as Kapil Sibal started expressing 'shock' at the comments from Rawat, the latter's wife unsuccessfully tried explaining how the remarks were being taken out of context.
"He (Tirath Singh Rawat) said that women's participation is unprecedented in building the society and the country. It is the responsibility of the women of our country to save our cultural heritage, save our identity, save our costumes," Rashmi, who has been Miss Meerut, according to a report by Outlook.