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| Omar's 'make-up kit' remark draws flak from women panchayat members | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 1: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday came under fire from women panchayat members, backed by PDP, for his "make-up kit" comment, a day after the Opposition party slammed him for the same comment and accused the National Conference Government of discouraging women from being empowered.
Earlier on Friday, PDP spokesman Naeem Akhtar said, "Omar Abdullah's reference to women being bribed with make-up kits and his attempt to cast aspersion on our sisters and mothers' integrity shows that NC, through such statements, intends to discourage women of the state from being empowered and assigned the much-deserved political space."
Ahead of polls to four seats of Legislative Council from Panchayat quota scheduled for next month, Abdullah had on Thursday said, "PDP leadership is luring Panchayat members through various tactics and money power. Women Panchayat members are reportedly being presented make-up kits to tempt them to vote for PDP candidates."
Elections will be held on December 3 for four seats of the Legislative Council from the panchayat quota.
The PDP spokesperson said that these remarks were not only sexist, but also gravely anti-woman.
Incidentally, the CM had during his speech also questioned why instead of distributing pen and paper, the PDP was distributing make-up kits.
"It is you (PDP) who are serving Wazwan dishes everywhere, handing out money in envelopes and distributing bags to women panchayat members. These bags contain scissors, nail-cutters and other make-up accessories. On one hand, you are observing purdah and on the other giving our women make-up sets to beautify themselves. If you want to give them anything, give pen and paper. Do you think panchayat members are so mean to sell their conscience for a petty thing like make-up kit," Abdullah was heard as saying in his speech recorded by NDTV and aired on Saturday.
"I swear to God that I will resign if they (opposition PDP) can even bring one Panchayat member who has been paid by NC to vote for our candidates," Omar had also said, while addressing Panches and Sarpanches in Ganderbal, his home constituency, in central Kashmir.
"Cursing the Opposition for all his failures was a stock response of the Chief Minister, but making such demeaning remarks against the mothers and sisters was completely unacceptable," the PDP spokesman said in a statement. Akhtar said women had defied considerable social barriers in taking a plunge into electoral process and are occupying a seriously contested democratic space.
The chief minister through his insensitive remarks has created a hugely negative impression about them, he claimed. He said Abdullah's statement did not go well with his claim to have a degree from abroad or having any modern-day schooling.
There were some still agitations taking place across the state on Saturday afternoon.
"No Western or Islamic education teaches such narrow-mindedness towards women. The chief minister needs to take a lesson or two on the place the woman occupy in Kashmiri society and the value and faith attached to mothers and sisters," he had said on Friday.
"The reason of the state being in the throes of dark era is because of feudal forces which relegated the woman's role to space around hearth," he said. |
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