SP MLA Azmi blames half clad women for molestation, gets panned

Mumbai/New Delhi: “Ants will swarm the place where sugar is,” Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi said on Tuesday reacting to the molestation of women on new year eve in Bengaluru, drawing condemnation from women activists for his “misogynistic” comments and calls for his arrest.

“Boys and girls should not be allowed to roam about together freely. Western culture has made its way into India.

This should stop.

“The more the nudity, the more a girl is considered fashionable. Ants will swarm the place where sugar is,” Azmi said, virtually stirring a hornet’s nest as women activists poured scorn on the the MLA from Shivaji Nagar in suburban Mumbai.

“I don’t say all men are like that in the country, but a good 25 per cent of this country seems to be full of patriachal men who have no respect for women.. how will any country progess? 

“The problem with politicising any issue is that the issue gets covered up totally and politics becomes important.

It does not matter whether Abu Azmi belongs to one particular party or another.. to be brutally frank, there are men across all parties who make these disgusting statements and they are all to be condemned equally,” Lalitha Kumar Mangalam, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, said.

She said the NCW has issued summonses to both Azmi and Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, who had stoked a controversy after he blamed the “western ways” of the youngsters for the Bengaluru molestation incident.

Azmi, known for his penchant for ‘Shayari’ went on to say, “Achchi soorat bhi kya buri shay hai, jisne bhi dali…buri nazar dali (pretty face can be a cause for trouble. Whoever will cast an eye, will cast an evil eye).” 

“Partying late night in half clad, blindly following western culture, has never been our culture. Ladies hailing from well-to-do families, be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP, they come out in decent attire and mostly with their family members,” he said.

“I am saying what happened is very unfortunate.

Undoubtedly, making security arrangement to thwart any eventuality is police’s job. But, as far as Bengaluru molestation is concerned, women and their guardians must also take precautions and think that security starts at home. Our women must think about their security themselves,” Azmi said.

Defending Parameshwara’s comments, Azmi said, “He said the harsh reality. Such things do happen when women try to copy the westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing,” he said.