The world is very sexist. Oh, come on! Not accepting it wouldn’t mean that it isn’t true. Inherent and blatant sexism runs through our societal veins and an example of it is visible in daily conversations. And, when it comes from our political leaders, it makes us question if they are the right people for facilitating a progressive society.
After hearing ‘tich’, and #DespiteBeingAWoman, another sexist remark has caught the attention. At a women wrestling event, that he was invited to, BJP MP Bhansi Lal Mahato was caught on camera calling Chhattisgarh girls “tana-tan”.
The 77-year-old minister — who is the Lok Sabha member from Korba, which about 215 km northeast of state capital Raipur — said,
#WATCH BJP MP Bansilal Mahto from Chhattisgarh’s Korba makes a remark on women, uses the term ‘Tana-tan’ for Korba women pic.twitter.com/7bBKZzlccn
— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2017
“Majaak mein bhale le liya jataa hai inn baaton ko, lekin Bhaiyalal Rajwade aksar ye baat kahte hain Ki ab baalao ki zarurat Kolkata-Mumbai se nahi hai. Korba ki turi aur Chhattisgarh ki ladiyan tana-tan ho gayi hain.”
Eh, tana-tan? Really?
This comment of the MP enraged people and also gave the opposition an opportunity to demand action to be taken. Congress leader TS Singh Deo wants legal action should be taken against Mahto. A Hindustan Times report quoted him saying,
“This is disrespect for women and shows the mentality of the MP. the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.”
Vice-president Amit Jogi, Janata Congress Chhattisgarh, said,
The statement didn’t go down too well with the netizens too.
1. Someone compared it to Digvijaya Singh’s ‘tich’ comment.
This is BJPs equivakent of tunch mal by @digvijaya_28 But easy to guess which will get more news space.
— indian भारतीय (@india2029) October 4, 2017
2. Exactly our point.
BJP MP says Chhattisgarh girls are now becoming "tan-a-tan". And we are expecting Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao from BJP leaders. Shame on him.
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) October 4, 2017
3. If only. *sigh*
Bharat will take a huge step towards swacchitha only when people make it a habit to utter swacch words.
— Dolfred Hughes (@dolfredscud) October 4, 2017
4. It is quite shameful.
I pity the mindset of such people….it's disgusting and shameful but real regret is that no one in crowd risen to protest against it
— Sushil Jain (@SushilJ1960) October 4, 2017
5. Could be?
Inspired by #Judwaa2
— Hunting_Hunters🙏 (@eparitosh) October 4, 2017
This is just something that shows how sexism is normalised in our country and its sad state.