BJP was left red-faced after one of its senior leaders questioned claims of the Uttar Pradesh government regarding women's safety in the state, advising them not to go to the police stations after dark.
BJP national vice-president Baby Rani Maurya, who gave this bizarre advice to women, also asked them not to go to cops unaccompanied.
''Although there are women constables and inspectors at the police stations, I will not advise women to go there after 5 pm,'' Maurya, who was a former governor of Uttarakhand, said while speaking at a function in Varanasi on Friday evening.
''If it becomes necessary for you (women) to go to the police stations then take your brother, husband or father along with you,'' she added.
Maurya, however, hastened to add that the Centre and the state government had taken a number of steps for the safety of the women and that the situation had changed in the past few years.
While the senior BJP leaders refrained from commenting on Maurya's remarks, Opposition parties were quick to pounce and said that her comments reflected the reality of the state.
''Women are not safe in UP. We have been saying for quite long that crimes against women have soared in the state and that women are not safe even in the police stations. Maurya's remarks have proved our allegations,'' said a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader on Saturday.
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