BHUBANESWAR: Days after the obscene remarks of Nilagiri MLA Santosh Khatua against senior BJD leader Lekhashree Samantsinghar sparked widespread outrage, the official stand of the BJP was still not clear on the contentious issue.
Neither the state government nor BJP president Manmohan Samal came forward to condemn the uncharitable remarks of the party MLA or hold him to task. None of the ministers and top functionaries of the party including Samal were forthcoming to give the stated position of the government on the issue.
The BJP’s silence on Khatua’s behaviour comes days after assault of an OAS officer on the premises of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) even as such incidents have shown the government in very poor light.
While condemning Khauta’s behaviour in no uncertain terms, Leader of Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik in a statement said, “This collective silence on such behaviour clearly reflects the ruling party’s stance to the public. Let us unite, beyond party lines, to oppose this and demand accountability. Otherwise, as a state, we will fail our daughters and mothers.”
Taking on the BJP, Naveen said before lecturing on women’s empowerment, the ruling party leaders need to learn the basic principle of respecting women. “Hearing such derogatory remarks from an elected representative is extremely unbearable and inhumane. It is rare for Odisha’s political landscape to sink to such a shameful level,” he added.
A senior leader of BJP on condition of anonymity told TNIE that it was unfortunate that the government and the party were still silent on Khatua who should be immediately called for an explanation.
“This is sending a very wrong message to the public. We have no moral right to claim that we belong to a party with a difference. What is more distressing is that such issues are not being discussed at party forum nor senior leaders are consulted. The same thing happened in the BMC case,” the leader said.