Mayor of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) Raksha Boliya created a controversy during a seminar on ‘marriages abroad’ by advising girls not to wear denim trousers and avoid tight-fitting dresses.
Boliya, wife of an autorickshaw driver came into limelight after she was unanimously elected by the ruling BJP’s councilors as Mayor of Rajkot in June 2013. She has again hit the headlines, though for the wrong reason.
RMC Mayor is not the first political person to express her opinion publicly or in front of media. In the past, such opinion has often been generated across the country from time to time by politicians as well as religious leaders.
“Jeans do not go well with Indian culture. I noticed many of you are wearing denim trousers. You shouldn’t wear such cloths. However, if you still want to wear, make it a point to wear long tops over it,” said Boliya during her speech at a seminar on marriages abroad organised by Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujarati Foundation popularly known as NRG Foundation.
Advocating the college-going girls at a seminar to create awareness among girls wanting to marry a person settled abroad, the Mayor said that they should avoid tight-fitting clothes as it was against Indian culture. NRG foundation is organising such seminars every year during winters in different cities as maximum number of Non-Resident Gujaratis travel to India during this season. Generally, NRGs prefer to marry their children in India. In such cases, often the boys and girls do not have ideas about each others backgrounds.
In such scenario many cases of fraudulent marriages with NRIs have been reported, especially in Gujarat and Punjab. According to a source in NRG foundation, Gujarat State Commission for Women received as many as 125 complaints of such incidents in the year 2014. Being a woman Mayor, Boliya was also invited to speak on the issue. However, she diverted and created a controversy of sorts.
She advised girls, who attended the seminar in large number to ensure that they make Gujarati culture stand out in the new environment after they get married to NRG boys. Former woman Mayor and leading advocate of Rajkot Bhavna Joshipura said that young women should keep their immigration and academic qualification papers handy to ensure they are well equipped to handle any marital discords later.