Congress leader Digvijay Singh courted a fresh controversy when he described party MP Meenakshi Natarajan “sou tanch khara maal” (totally pure), remarks that were slammed as sexist and derogatory.
“Our party MP, Meenakshi Natrajan is a Gandhian, simple and an honest leader. She keeps going from place to place in her constituency. I am a seasoned smith of politics. Meenakshi sou tanch khara maal hai (totally pure),” the Congress general secretary said addressing party workers in Mandsaur town on Thursday.
Congress found it hard to defend Digvijay Singh’s controversial statements, the latest being his use of ‘100 per cent tunch maal’ to describe party MP Meenakshi Natarajan at a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh.
Party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary tried to duck a barrage of questions from media, saying she had not heard Singh’s remarks and was not aware in what context he had said so. “How can I endorse or condemn something when I am not aware what has happened,” she said, stressing that if he intended to praise Natarajan then the matter should end here.
“We have stopped taking Digivijaya Singh seriously,” BJP spokesperson Meenakshi lekhi said. Natrajan, Congress MP from Mandsaur, is one of the members of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s youth brigade. Digvijay Singh’s remark were slammed by BJP with party leader Vinay Katiyar saying that he had lost his mental balance and needs treatment urgently.
Katiyar said, “Digvijay Singh has lost his mental balance. We would request the Government to make him undergo treatment at the earliest at a mental hospital.” Madhya Pradesh Minister for Industries Kailash Vijaywargiya alleged that Singh had brought shame to the state with his remarks.
Singh, however clarified that his remark meant that Natrajan was like “pure gold” and threatened to take legal action against TV channels for wrongly reporting it.
Natarajan herself said there’s nothing offensive in the comment and it was just a colloquial phase which should bee seen in the context of what the leader had said.