DECEMBER 13: It began as an innocuous threat to go on a hunger strike over a stubborn Shiv Sena shakha in the precincts of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC). But when Standing Committee Chairperson Waman Mhatre (Sena) penned a stinker to corporator Sharada Patil (Cong), alluding to her ``more than ample weight'', the fat was in the fire.The incident, which began as a battle between political heavyweights has since turned into a war over women's empowerment, with corporators across parties vowing to teach their male counterparts a lesson.The matter dates back to December 5, when Patil wrote to Municipal Commissioner Shrikant Singh saying she would go on an indefinite fast as she suspected that the KDMC was protecting the Kopargaon shakha. The civic Anti-Encroachment Department had served demoliton notices to an illegal chawl but had spared the shakha. Patil had also sent copies to the other relevant civic authorities.In his characteristic abrasive tongue, Mhatre wrote back, mentioning Patil's ``more than ample weight (99 kg)''. Penned on his official letterhead, his December 7, letter reads: ``It is a good thing that you have decided to go a fast as it will do you a world of good. Your party couldn't have found a better person to undertake this fast.''Stung by the insult, Patil lodged a defamation complaint with the Vishnunagar police on December 9. She has also written to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.Mhatre's callous remarks have also turned the tide of resentment against him. Says Vanita Patil from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party: ``Men have time and again used shaming as a technique to keep women out of power but we know how to fight back and we will. Unfortunately, male elected representatives have still not learnt to conduct themselves with dignity.'' Bharati Shimpi of the Sena is equally caustic. ``How can a Standing Committee chairperson stoop to this level?''However, Mhatre, still shameless and unrepentant about his obnoxious remarks, chortles at the recollection: ``It was meant to be a joke but she seems to have taken it seriously,'' he told Express Newsline. Patil, incensed and still in shock, struggles for the right words. ``I am waiting to lay my hands on him,'' she returns.Congress leader in the House, Santosh Kene, makes a pertinent observation. Pointing to repeated instances when Sena corporators have insulted women, he says: ``This is an indication of the party's stand on women.'' Reminiscing how Sena chief Bal Thackeray had launched a personal attack against Congress President Sonia Gandhi during the recent elections, he adds: ``When he (Thackeray) stoops to making personal barbs against women, can one expect any better from the rank and file?''Only last month, outraged by a lewd gesture made by Sena corporator Avinash Panchal while they were staging a walkout, corporators Rekha Gajabe (Cong) and Sharada Patil had literally chased Panchal down the corporation's corridors threatening to gherao him. Acutely aware of the ugly mood that day, Panchal had fled the General Body meeting and the premises as well.Like Mhatre, Sena representatives in the corporation are predictably playing down the incident like it never happened. Corporator Bal Hardas accuses the Congress of making political capital out of ``a minor incident''! Donning blinkers, he says instead of only targeting a Sena shakha, action should be taken against all party offices which are illegal.Mayor Shahu Samant (Sena) has merely promised to ask Mhatre ``for an explanation'' refusing to specify whether the corporator will have to face action. But the women corporators have other ideas. For the time being, their motto is: `Out with chauvinism, in with women's empowerment'.
