While the Congress party is trying to project Priyanka’s entry into politics as some sort of women empowerment victory, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has misbehaved with a woman in public. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. In the video, Siddaramaiah can be seen snatching a mic from the woman which resulted in falling down of her dupatta. The incident happened in Mysuru.
#WATCH Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah misbehaves with a woman at a public meeting in Mysuru. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/MhQvUHIc3x
— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2019
The victim woman was complaining about the lack of developmental work in the constituency. Her questions angered former Chief Minister, he screamed at her, insulted her. He lost his cool completely and leaped forward to snatch the mic from her hand.
The BJP Karnataka twitter handle shared the short clip of the incident.
ಕೌರವರ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಆಧುನಿಕ ದುಶ್ಯಾಸನ ? pic.twitter.com/K2m9tigACJ
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) January 28, 2019
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar attacked the Congress over the entire unfortunate incident. He said, “Rahul Gandhi should tell what he’ll do with him. This is a crime, the way he abused her. That’s how they see women, they haven’t changed since the tandoor case. They only respect women from one family.”
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Siddaramaiah misbehaving with a woman: Rahul Gandhi should tell what he'll do with him. This is a crime, the way he abused her. That's how they see women, they haven't changed since the tandoor case. They only respect women from one family. pic.twitter.com/SKyTdgXzHi
— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2019
Instead of apologizing to the victim woman and condemning the incident, the Congress leader ended up blaming the woman for the incident. Gundu Rao from the Congress said, “She was talking in an agitated manner, as it is a local thing, sometimes when people start asking questions in a rush way, you take away the mike, when he tried to take away the mike her dupatta was pulled away it is not. To impute any such intention is horrifying. The intention was to only take the mike away from her.”
Siddaramaiah’s son also defended his father and said, “I don’t think my father should apologise.”
Yathindra, son of Siddaramaiah speaks to TIMES NOW's @_anubhavk, says, ' I don't think my father should apologise'
LISTEN IN | #CongInsultsIndia pic.twitter.com/I6Ux0jSEoD
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) January 28, 2019
The news of Siddaramaiah misbehaving with the woman came hours after he was lecturing Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde about public decency. In a tweet, he said, “Ananth Kumar Hegde is not fit to be an MP. He should apologise and resign immediately for his insensitive comments towards @dineshgrao and also for his provocative statements aimed at creating social conflicts.”
.@AnantkumarH is not fit to be an MP. He should apologise & resign immediately for his insensitive comments towards @dineshgrao & also for his provocative statements aimed at creating social conflicts.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) January 28, 2019
The opposition party- BJP- slammed Siddaramaiah for his insensitive and uncivilized act. The Karnataka BJP said, “He is Siddaramaiah threatening and abusing a women openly. Demon Dushashana is finally reborn and (has) resumed power in the government of Karnataka. This is how Congress-JDS treats women.”