'Out of context' comments lands Haryana CM in a soup

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has generated controversy with his allegedly misogynistic comments about Kashmiri women. The irony was that he was speaking at a function to celebrate the success of 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', according to a report in 'The Hindu'.

Khattar initially touched on his state's poor sex ratio and said, "Haryana was infamous for its sex ratio but we ran a campaign from where it improved from 850 women per 1,000 men to 933 per 1,000 men." And then, he commented on Kashmiri women. "There can be problems if the number of girls is lesser than boys. Our Dhankarji (BJP Minister OP Dhankar) had said that they (brides) will have to be brought from Bihar. Now some people say, Kashmir is open, they (brides) will be brought from there. But jokes apart, the question is if (sex) ratio is right, then there will be a right balance in society."

Dhankar had said in 2014 that he would bring brides from Bihar for the youths of Haryana if they were unable to find a match in the state, which was infamous for its skewed sex ratio. It was in reference to this statement that the Haryana chief minister made his latest comment.

This is not the first instance of a minister discussing women in relation to the revocation of Article 370. A few days ago, Muzaffarnagar's BJP MLA Vikram Saini, while addressing a local gathering, said, "The Muslim workers sitting here should be happy that they can now marry the white-skinned girls from Kashmir."

The incident evoked strong reactions from ex-Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, who tweeted saying that it 'shows what years of RSS training does to the mind of a weak, insecure and pathetic man'.

The Delhi Commission for Women also reacted to Khattar's comments, saying that an FIR should be lodged against the Haryana CM. "Such statements by those in high constitutional offices reinforce the notions of a patriarchal society and severely undermine the value and voice of women and girls," the women's panel said in a statement.

However, the Haryana Chief Minister has dismissed the controversy, claiming it to be a 'misleading and factless propaganda' and that 'daughters are India's pride'.

(With inputs from PTI)