Now, Bihar's Dy CM in trouble for anti-women remarks

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has got a women's rights activist fuming over his statement that Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former chief minister Rabri Devi should go back to the kitchen as that is where she belongs.

Another Bihar leader seems headed for trouble over his unsavoury remarks. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has got a women's rights activist fuming over his statement that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former chief minister Rabri Devi should go back to the kitchen as that is where she belongs.

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Kanchan Bala, also a member of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U), has demanded that the Election Commission take action against Modi for his anti-women remarks.

Modi, who belongs to the JD-U's alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said that Rabri Devi should return to the kitchen and look after her children and keep away from the election limelight. He was reacting to her reported derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state JD-U chief Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh at a poll rally in Saran district.

"Modi's remarks are not only anti-women, it also shows his feudal mental makeup where the woman's role is confined to the kitchen and to look after the children," said Kanchan Bala, a well-known women's rights activist.

"We demand that the Election Commission take stern action against Modi for his anti-women remarks," Kanchan Bala told IANS here Tuesday, adding that the poll panel should stop anyone else from making such derogatory remarks against women.

"Who is Modi to pass a moral judgement that a woman like Rabri Devi is unfit for politics? There are dozens of aged male politicians who are neither able to properly walk, talk or even identify anyone, but Modi never dares to describe them as unfit for politics," she said angrily.

She said it was very easy to raise fingers at a woman in politics by questioning her character or capability. "Nobody has questioned Modi's remarks targeting women in politics," she said.

She said that a petition had been sent to the poll panel and also to the National Commission for Women on the matter.

Her remarks come as Railways Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad was on Tuesday booked for his remarks against BJP's Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi. Lalu Prasad had said at an election rally in Kishanganj on Monday that had he been the home minister he would have run a "roller" over Varun Gandhi for his reported hate speeches against Muslims.

A case has also been filed against Rabri Devi for her alleged derogatory remarks made against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state JD-U chief Rajiv Ranjan.