Not just BJP, Sri Ram Sene: Medieval mindsets cut across parties

Editors note: This is a comment by a reader named AJ, that we received in response to the article ‘ Pramod Muthalik in BJP: Is this Modi's idea of women's rights? " that was published on Sunday. Apart from removing a few remarks directed at the author, the comment has been left as is. Do you remember how long it took for any representative of Congress to attend the mass protests during the Nirbhaya case? Do you remember an erstwhile Congress minister of state making derogatory remarks against women wearing lipstick and his unrelenting moral-policing campaign? He is still a prominent member of the party. [caption id=“attachment_1447285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  No political party is sensitive to rape[/caption] Do you remember the Congress MP calling the Suryanelli rape victim a prostitute? He is still an MP in the party. Do you remember any of ally Trinamool’s accusations about rape victims being setups to defame the government? I can go on and on. My point is that medieval mindsets cut across parties and if you’re going to castigate politicians for it, reprimand them all. Don’t use crimes against women as an argument when the actual agenda here is an ad hominem attack on Modi. Talking about Modi, the women I’ve interacted with from Ahmedabad tell me they feel safe going out even at 3 am. Admittedly this is what I’ve heard firsthand from *a few* women but I’d much rather trust what I hear from the horse’s mouth than someone who gives lip service to women empowerment while the capital maintains its tag of a living hell for women. By the way, I have no problems with people disliking Modi. It would be silly indeed to attribute to Modi messianic powers that can rescue this country. That said, this is one candidate who I believe in more than anyone else and who I am rooting for in this election. However, I’m still waiting to read a cohesive argument against Modi that does not start out as shrill personal vilification of the man, deteriorates from there and ends up painting the entire community that supports him as a bunch of rabid fundamentalists.