BENGALURU: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday expressed regret over his comments that women in rural areas have "lost their way" due to the five guarantee schemes of the Congress government in Karnataka, but claimed that his statement is being twisted.
The former chief minister attacked Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar accusing him of trying to blow up the remarks in a way which he did not mean, as he pointed out at comments made by Congress leaders against women recently.
"What obscene comments have I made? I have asked women to be cautious while making a decision and not to lose their way. What I meant is don't fall for the guarantee scheme and vote for Congress. For that Congress has decided for a state wide-protest. They don't have anything else to speak against me," Kumaraswamy said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, he need not learn from the Congress about respecting women.
"I still say what I said that day is -- I cautioned them (women) and asked them to decide carefully as they (Congress in the name of guarantees) will destroy your livelihood. I have no prestige, if my comments have hurt women office bearers of Congress and if my statement has caused sorrow to someone I express my regret," he added.
Further stating he had admitted on the floor of the Assembly that he too had lost his way in the past and that his wife corrected him and brought back him on the right track, Kumaraswamy said, "If my statement has hurt any women, that was not my intention, my statement is being twisted."
"I express my regret to all the women of the state, if my mothers are hurt. Even when I spoke that day I addressed women as mothers. Unlike Congress leaders who used distasteful comments," he said, adding, he will also respond to the women's commission notice over the issue.
Questioning as to from whose pockets the government is funding guarantee schemes, Kumaraswamy during a road show in Tumakuru on Saturday said, "This government (state) in the last election had announced five guarantees, (because of which), our mothers in the villages have lost their way. One should think about what will happen to their livelihood and that of their families."
The comment has elicited sharp reactions from the ruling party, with women Congress workers staging a protest with "Go back Kumaraswamy" slogans and placards in Mandya, from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha election, and other places, and also Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues attacking him.
Taking a dig at Shivakumar stating that he urgently held a virtual meeting of Congress office bearers, legislators, former legislators and women office bearers over this issue, the JD(S) state president today said: "He (Shivakumar) has said that after Indira Gandhi's assassination my disrespectful and unpardonable comments against women was the second most painful thing in his life."
"I want to ask him about the instances where women of some families were kidnapped and their lands were taken over by threatening. Didn't he feel pain about those incidents? I have seen all these things," he said.
Pointing at several Congress ministers sharply reacting to his alleged comments and women workers of that party even holding a protest in Mandya, Kumaraswamy claimed that when someone asked those protesting women as to why they were doing so, they have stated that they were not aware of the reason but were paid Rs 250-Rs 300.
Shivakumar, who held a virtual meeting with Congress workers, has instructed them to hold protests against Kumaraswamy's statement across the state, he said.
"I want to ask Mr Shivakumar about his party's in-charge (Randeep Singh Surjewala) recent comments against Hemamalini, a noted actress of this country."
He added sarcastically: "These are the people who give utmost respect for women."
Further questioning a Congress spokesperson's comments on the BJP candidate from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh Kangana Ranaut, he said, "Please speak about it Mr Shivaumar. You demanded a response from Narendra Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman regarding my comments. What Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have to say about comments by your party leaders?"
He also listed out various "distasteful comments" made against women by several Congress leaders including K R Ramesh Kumar and Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, and said "I need not learn from Congress about respecting women."
Noting that he was cautioning the women folk, the mothers of the state that the government is giving them Rs 2,000 per month, while they are pickpocketing Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 from earning members of their family, Kumaraswamy said, "So I told them to be cautious and not to lose their way, don't fall prey to it."
"Rs 2,000 won't give permanent solutions to issues faced by your families. Despite 75 years after Independence, you are still made to seek alms by extending your arms. While my programmes were aimed at strengthening you. This is what I have told the womenfolk," he said, adding that as CM he had banned arrack on the request of women.
Asking women workers of the Congress to go through his statement, instead of staging a protest under the hot sun with "Go back" slogans against him, Kumaraswamy said, "Go back has become a new trend these days. I need not fear 'your go back', when I have not committed a mistake."
On Shivakumar alleging that Kumaraswamy and his family owns about thousand acres of land around Bengaluru, he said, "Yes, I have 45-48 acres of land, which I brought from the money earned as a film distributor before entering politics. It was ten years before I entered politics. I do agriculture there, I have not done resorts. Come and see."
Noting that his father H D Deve Gowda, even when he was Leader of the Opposition did farming and strived, he said, "what did he (Shivakumar) strive for? Stealing rocks and sending them to foreign countries is his striving? There are many things to talk about, if I have to."
