Digvijaya lambasts Hema Malini over her remarks on widows

New Delhi: Congress today asked actress-turned parliamentarian Hema Malini to withdraw her remarks on widows, saying it was “uncalled for”.

“Hema Maliniji’s remark against widows of Vrindavan are highly parochial and uncalled for. She must withdraw it,” party general secretary Digvijay Singh tweeted.

Malini today sought to defend her remarks saying that she made the comment in the context of how widows from other states were ignored by their states governments, which were not doing enough for these women.

The 65-year-old BJP Lok Sabha MP also said did not say anything which she should be “ashamed of”.

During a visit to her parliamentary constituency Mathura, Malini stoked a potential controversy when she said the holy town of Vrindavan, which is home to thousands of destitute women, should not be crowded by widows from other states like West Bengal and Bihar.

She had said that there are already 40,000 widows in Vrindavan, which is part of her constituency, and there was no room to accommodate more.

The MP today defended her previous statement in a series of tweets, saying no one listened to her “actual interview” to the media.

“I haven’t said anything that I should be ashamed of. I stand by my statement that they (widows) should be allowed to live with dignity. Sad state for a country once known for the respect shown to women. This is what I was trying to point out,” she tweeted.

PTI