Politicians making light of the horrifying act of rape or blaming the most stupid of things for why it’s happening is unfortunately nothing new to this country.

From chowmein to jeans, to various other things our ‘respectable’ politicians have blamed almost everything under the sun for why rape has happened, except of course the man himself or the male mentality present in our country. When it comes to the man then suddenly it comes ‘boys will be boys’ or ‘boys can make mistakes too’ paraphrased from actual quotes made by politicians.

Now in the latest news, a Karnataka Congress MLA is under fire for making another crude statement about rape and what’s worse is to see the reaction his words got from the Speaker himself and other MLAs.

What Happened?

It all happened during the Thursday session of the Karnataka Assembly, where Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was being asked to extend the time by certain MLAs but he wanted to finish the discussion at the usual time of 6 pm.

Kageri said that “I am in a situation where I have to enjoy and say ‘yes, yes’. That’s it. This is what I feel. I should give up controlling the situation and take the proceedings in a systematic manner, I should tell everyone to continue your talks.”

Karnataka Congress MLA K R Ramesh Kumar then added that “See, there is a saying- when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That’s exactly the position in which you are”. 

Kageri then laughed out loud at this statement as if an actual joke had been made and not a cruel and inhumane act had been reduced to a joke.

In the clips going viral of this, not one other person in attendance at that time raised any kind of objection towards the statement by Kumar or Kageri’s reaction to it.

Seeing the incredible anger from people regarding the remarks, Kumar has apparently made an apology of sorts in a tweet saying, “I would like to express my sincere apologies to everyone for the indifferent and negligent comment I made in today’s assembly about rape. My intention was not to trivialize or make light of the heinous crime, but an off-the-cuff remark! I will choose my words carefully henceforth!”

As per ANI, during the Friday, 17th December Assembly session Kumar also stated that “If it hurts the sentiments of women, I’ve no problem apologizing. I apologize from the bottom of my heart” to which Speaker VH Kageri said that “He has apologized, let’s not drag it further.”

Not The First Time

This is also not the first time that Kumar has said something like this, previously he was under fire from women members of the House when as a Speaker himself he had compared himself to a rape survivor. It is not just Kumar though, there have been other people of authority from Karnataka that have made such comments.

Home Minister of Karnataka Araga Jnanendra after gang-rape of a medical student in Mysuru in 2020 had actually blamed the victim herself asking “what was she doing there at 7 pm” and her and that “The girl and her friend must have gone to a deserted place there, they should not have gone there”. He also added that Congress was politicizing the issue and that “the Congress is trying to rape me”.

Similar to Kumar, Jnanendra had also tried to excuse away his words saying they were said as a joke and he didn’t mean to insult anyone.

People understandably expressed their shock and anger against such blatant insensitivity shown by MLAs and politicians meant to work for the betterment of society.

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Read More: Even Congress’ Own Sanjay Jha Thinks Congress Is Not An Alternative To BJP Anymore

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Beyond this several other politicians and persons of authority have called out the MLA’s remarks.

National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma also spoke out against the remarks, tweeting out that “It is extremely sad and unfortunate that we still have public representatives who are misogynists and have a horrible mindset towards women.”

In another tweet, she posted “It’s really disgusting. If they sit in assemblies and speak like this how they must be behaving with women in their lives?”

People Again Rape in India (PARI)’s head Yogita Bhayana also stated that “This video of Karnataka Legislative Assembly is from yesterday (Thursday) when the country was observing the nine years of the Nirbhaya incident. To protect our women, we vote for them (legislators) and this shameless (MLA) is calling rape enjoyment.”

https://twitter.com/ShashikalaJolle/status/1471730309133529091

Of course, what the MLA said is highly offensive and idiotic but it seems that many people are focusing on that and ignoring how the other MLAs and the Speaker himself reacted to his words. That is where the main problem lies.

Not only are people saying such crude stuff but other people who are supposed to know better are not condemning for those words but instead are laughing at it, further encouraging such mindsets.

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Economic Times

Find the blogger: @chirali_08

This post is tagged under: Karnataka Congress MLA, Congress MLA, karnataka assembly, ramesh kumar, ramesh kumar mla, ramesh kumar mla congress, ramesh kumar congress, congress mla, speaker, karnataka assembly speaker, mlas, india mlas, karnataka mlas, #RameshKumar, #KarnatakaAssembly

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