Azmi’s comments draw flak

Partying late night not Indian culture: SP MLA

Mumbai: “Ants will swarm the place where sugar is,” Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi said on Tuesday reacting to the molestation of women on New Year eve in Bengaluru, drawing condemnation from women activists for his “misogynistic” comments and called for his arrest. “Boys and girls should not be allowed to roam about together freely. This should stop,” he said.

Mumbai, Jan. 3: Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi on Tuesday said though it was the duty of police to ensure safety of women on the New Year eve, women should not forget that “security starts at home”, and that partying late night is not in the Indian culture.

“Partying late night in half attire, blindly following western culture, has never been our culture. Ladies hailing from well-todo families, be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP, they come out in decent attire and mostly with their family members,” he said, when asked about alleged harassment of women in Bengaluru during the New Year eve. “I am saying what happened is very unfortunate. Undoubtedly, making security arrangement to thwart any eventuality is police’s job. But, as far as Bengaluru molestation is concerned, women and their guardians must also take precautions and think that security starts at home. Our women must think about their own security themselves,” Azmi said.

New Year revelry turned into a nightmare for several women who were allegedly molested despite huge police presence at a large gathering at Bengaluru’s downtown region, sparking widespread outrage.

“But when few women in half dress come out on streets at late night with their friends, such incidents do occur,” said Azmi, an MLA from Shivaji Nagar in suburban Mumbai. He also defended Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara who had stoked a controversy by blaming the youngsters' “western ways” for the incidents.