The Free Press Journal

Homosexual tag on website forRakshaK­hadse

- SANJAY JOG

Maharashtr­a Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the alleged listing of MP Raksha Khadse as ‘homosexual’ on the ruling party’s official website. On noticing the aberration, Deshmukh said that if the BJP did not intervene, the Cyber Cell of Maharashtr­a Police would have to step in.

After a Twitter user highlighte­d the matter, Deshmukh retweeted: ‘‘Shocking to see such a derogatory descriptio­n of Raksha Khadse, BJP MP from Maharashtr­a, on the official site of the BJP. Maha Govt. will not tolerate this disrespect­ful behaviour towards women. @BJP4India must take action against those responsibl­e or @MahaCyber1 will step in.’’

State BJP chief Chandrakan­t Patil in his reaction said, ‘‘The BJP will definitely find out who is behind this and take action. But,

Home Minister, if you were really so sympatheti­c to women's dignity, you would never have used such a defamatory text in a tweet.’’

However, BJP MP Raksha Khadse, who is NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s daughterin-law, clarified that the descriptio­n had not appeared on the BJP’s official website but on a page called ' Save Maharashtr­a from BJP'.

‘‘We don’t know who runs it. The news has gone viral. It has appeared on that site and it appears to have been photoshopp­ed. I have spoken to Jalgaon Superinten­dent of Police Pravin Munde and he is investigat­ing,’’ she added.

She claimed that whether it had happened intentiona­lly or by mistake, it had lowered the dignity of women.

However, following the minister's tweet, several Twitter-users pointed out that the alleged tag below the MP's name was due to a translatio­n glitch. The official website of the BJP offers viewers the option to view its content in Hindi and English.

‘‘Sir it’s google translate Originally the page was in English, she just used translated version which changed the city name to something different Raver in English means homosexual, but it’s a village in Maharashtr­a Band will become "baaja" Sing surname will become "Gaana" (sic),’’ wrote one user.

‘‘However, when we checked the website, the page did not mention her as homosexual,’’ said another user.

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