Name liquor after women for better sales: Maha BJP min
MUMBAI: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and medical education minister Girish Mahajan kicked off a row over his sexist remarks in which he advised a sugar factory to name their liquor brand after women for better marketing. Women activists and Opposition parties have strongly condemned the comment seeking an apology from the minister.
Mahajan, while inaugurating the crushing season of Satpuda sugar factory in Nandurbar on Saturday, had said the factories should name their liquor brands after women for better revenue.
Factories set up distilleries for the production of liquor from the molasses generated in the process of manufacturing sugar.
Citing examples of the brands by some of the factories in western Maharashtra, the minister said the factory should have named its liquor brand as Maharani instead of Maharaja. He said factories in Kolhapur and Sangli have named their liquor brands Julie, Bhingari and Bobby, and are doing good business. He said even tobacco brands with the names such as Vimal and Kesar were selling well.
The statement led to a sharp reaction from activists and opposition. Social activist Paromita Goswami of NGO Shramik Elgar filed a complaint against the minister in Mul police station in Chandrapur district of Vidarbha. She had demanded the case be registered under sections 504 and 509 of IPC for public provocation and insult to the modesty of women. The police are checking the legal standing of the complaint before registering it.
The minister, however, admitted to his mistake and said he will issue an apology for his first mistake in a political career spanning more than 25 years. “It was a statement made in a lighter mood in response to the complaint by the factory members about poor sales. I have personally seen the response to the brands of the factories run by senior politicians such as Shankarrao Kale and Shankarrao Kolhe. Having said this, I admit it was an unintentional mistake and I should not have said it. I am issuing an apology tomorrow,” Mahajan told Hindustan Times.
While the women’s wing of Nationalist Congress Party protested in Nashik and burnt his effigy, AAP demanded an immediate apology. “It represents the mindset of male politicians and the way they view women. It is a shameful statement in a progressive state like Maharashtra, which dons the legacy of Mahatma Phule and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. Mahajan should immediately apologise,” Pratibha Shinde, social activist from Nandurbar, said.
The minister has courted controversies before. He had reportedly attended the wedding ceremony of a relative of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim earlier this year. He also invited criticism for attending a function meant for children with hearing and speech disabilities, with his revolver tucked under his waist, visible to everyone.