BJP’s national Kisan Morcha president OP Dhankar after giving a controversial statement regarding solving the acute sex ratio problem in Haryana, took a U-turn on Sunday by claiming that the media “misquoted” his statement. Dhankar, in his address to Kisan Mahasammelan at Narwana on July 4, had reportedly said that there were many unmarried young men in the villages of Haryana, so men can bring wives from Bihar.
He had added that Sushil Kumar Modi, senior BJP leader and Bihar’s former deputy Chief Minister, was his good friend and he would ensure compatible match.
Dhankar’s comment had drawn flak from several women’s organisations and Opposition parties including Janata Dal United, CPI and the Congress who condemned the statement. Bihar BJP leader Modi had also defended Dhankar by saying that his statements were twisted by the media. Hoshiari lal Sharma, state spokesperson of Haryana Congress and former president of Sirsa district, termed Dhankar’s statement as “immature and absurd”.
“A person like Dhankar, who is being projected as one of the candidates for Chief Minister’s post, shouldn’t say like this. If he is so anxious to be mediator for the marriages, he should take up the cases of those bachelors in the RSS or the BJP, who didn’t get married till date, rather than concentrating on local youths of Haryana,” said Sharma.
Even the main Opposition party Indian National lok Dal (INlD) too condemned it. “It is a fact that sex ratio is less in Haryana, but it is not a political problem rather it is social evil. Senior leader like Dhankar should not have made such a statement, rather he should have asked his senior leaders in the Union government to bring employment to the unemployed Haryanvi youths, they would automatically get married,” said INlD president Ashok Arora.