Reigning superstar of Tollywood Dipak Adhikary aka Dev, who has been fielded by the Trinamool Congress as one of its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, on Monday kicked up a major row following his shocking and tasteless rape analogy during a media chat.
Dev was asked whether he was enjoying the new media attention as a politician, “I am becoming mad. Enjoy! It’s just like being raped ‘yaar’. You can shout or you can enjoy,” he had replied partly in English before laughing it off. The actor is the TMC candidate from Ghatala seat.
Meanwhile, his comment triggered a strong reaction not only among the political class but also the women’s rights campaigners, who strongly condemned it.
“I am stunned. This shows the TMC has fielded persons without properly grooming them. Dev has insulted women and he should quit politics,” West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha said.
Congress media cell chief Abdul Mannan said,“I am not at all surprised because he is just following the TMC culture. Dev probably thought politics is also cinema and uttered movie dialogues which he is used to and played to the gallery,” he commented.
Reacting sharply, a woman, whose gangrape in February 2012 had put the spotlight on women’s safety in the state, told Express, “Such remarks will lead to a rise in the number of rapes. What did he imply about screaming? When a baby girl is raped or a gun is thrust into one’s mouth, as it happened with me inside a car, can one scream? His remarks add to the savagery of rape when he talks about enjoying it. Can a woman ever enjoy being raped and then get beaten up? No educated or sensible person will ever make such a comment,” she said.