Rajasthan minister sparks row with rape comment

Giving reply to a debate in the Assembly for grants to police and jails departments, Dhariwal, who is also the cabinet minister for Law and Legal Affairs, said, “We are number one in rape, ismein koi do raai nahin (no doubt about that), ab ye rape ke mamle mein kyun hain, kahin na kahin galti hai ye toh s**** (now why we are number one, it is a fault somewhere).”

As some MLAs sitting behind him spoke, he turned to them and said, “Rajasthan toh mardon ka pradesh raha hai yaar, ab uska kya karein (Rajasthan has been a state of men, what to do about that),” prompting some ministers and MLAs to burst into laughter.

“Uttar Pradesh is number 2, Madhya Pradesh is number 3, Maharashtra is number 4, Assam is number 5 and Haryana is number 6,” Dhariwal said.

However, no one objected to his comments in the Assembly; the Opposition had boycotted Dhariwal’s reply before these comments were made. They had staged a walkout after Dhariwal had alleged that women are most unsafe in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of PM Narendra Modi.

Reacting sharply to his statement, the BJP MLAs created uproar in the House and had staged a walkout.

Later in the day, BJP state president Satish Poonia said that Dhariwal’s “shameless confession of the state being number one in rapes is not only an insult to women but has also brought down the dignity of men. If Congress has any morality left, then such a minister should be shown the way out.”