
For Chairman of United Breweries and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya, the new year has got mercury levels shooting.
And it8217;s not the hot bods gracing his Kingfisher Swimsuit Special 2004 calendar. It8217;s the Maharashtra State Women8217;s Commission, which is screaming bloody murder as the calendar 8216;8216;commodifies8217;8217; the woman8217;s body 8212; and because Mallya has 8216;8216;tarnished8217;8217; the image of Parliamentarians.
A UB Group spokesperson refused to comment until he saw the contents of the Commission8217;s complaint, but photographer Atul Kasbekar isn8217;t mincing his words about the furore concerning a 8216;8216;privately circulated calendar for a discerning clientele8217;8217;.
He says the models8217; mothers-in-law can put it up on their walls too. 8216;8216;There is no vulgarity or nudity. Would they have made a furore over someone who was not as important? When they talk of offending morals, whose morals are they talking about? My website has received about 1.7 million hits from Pakistan alone since the launch of the calendar,8217;8217; says Kasbekar.
Jumping into the fray is the BJP8217;s women8217;s wing, whose president Kanta Nalavade wants to take the issue up with National Commission for Women president Poornima Advani. 8216;8216;My party endorses the step taken by the State Commission for Women SCW. How can a Parliamentarian publish such a calendar?8217;8217; she says.
Shiv Sena Member of the Legislative Council and member of the National Task Force for Women, Dr Neelam Gorhe, says the action contemplated by the Commission is insufficient.