I dream of an India where mothers don’t teach
daughters that they are responsible for maintaining their homes. I dream of an
India where a girl gets to decide whether or not a she wishes to marry; where
she can have an opinion; where she has the right to dream. I dream of an India
where man is not the beast; where I can walk without fear; where I am not
scared; where I can be myself without inviting acid attacks, rapes and reproach
from the society.
But it doesn’t exist. This does.
Mohan
Bhagwat, RSS Chief: “Crimes against women happen in India and not in Bharat."
"Theory
of contract, theory of social contract, a husband and wife are bound by a
contract which says 'you (woman) look after the household chores and satisfy
me, I (man) will take care of your needs and will protect you', and until she
delivers her duties without fail, he keeps her on the contract and if she fails
to honour the contract, he disowns her and if it is the same with the husband
who is not honouring the contract, she can also abandon him and go for a new
contract then."
Vijaywargiya,
Minister, Madhya Pradesh: "Only when Sitaji crossed the Lakshman rekha, she was kidnapped by
Ravan...If Sitaji (woman) crosses the Lakshman rekha, then 'Sitaharan' (crime
against them) is bound to take place as Ravans are out there."
Abhijeet
Mukherjee, Pranab Mukherjee’s son and MP: “I can see many beautiful women among them -
highly dented-painted - they're giving interviews on TV, they've brought their
children to show them the scenes. I have grave doubts whether they're students,
because women of that age are generally not students."
Mulayam
Singh Yadav, Former CM: "Only girls and women from affluent class can go forward. Remember
this, you (rural women) will not get a chance. Our rural women did not have
that much attraction."
Om
Prakash Chautala, Former CM: “The Mughal sultanate in
this country used to misbehave with women... to prevent that, people started
getting their young girls married early so that no one did anything wrong to
them… currently a similar situation is arising in the state.”
Dharamvir
Goyat, Haryana Pradesh Congress committee (HPCC) member:
"If we go into the details of rape cases and abductions, it is found that
victims and accused in 90% of cases are runaway couples. So the cases are
consensual."
Sheila
Dixit, CM, Delhi: "All by herself till 3 am at night in a city where people
believe...you know...you should not be so adventurous.''
Shushil
Kumar Shinde, Home Minister (to Jaya Bachchan): "This is a serious matter. This is not the
subject of a film."
Sharad
Yadav, Janata Dal United: "Only certain women who lived in cities like Delhi and Lucknow
would benefit who are nothing but "par kati auraten'' (women with short
hair)."
Sanjay
Nirupam, MP (to Smriti Irani): “Till recently you were shaking your hips on TV for money, and now
suddenly you have become a political analyst.”
Muqtar
Abbas Naqvi, Vice President, BJP: “Some women wearing lipstick and powder
have taken to the streets in Mumbai and are abusing politicians and spreading
dissatisfaction against democracy. This is what terrorists are doing in Jammu
and Kashmir.”
Mamata
Banerjee, CM, Kolkata: "Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught
by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It's like an open
market with open options."
Sushma
Swaraj, BJP: “Rape
victims are living dead.”
