BELAGAVI: Senior Congress leader and former Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar stoked a controversy after he remarked in the Assembly that ‘when rape is inevitable, one should lie down and enjoy it’. His comments drew angry responses from his own party colleagues later in the evening.
Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri found himself in a fix when MLAs continued to demand more time to speak on the devastation caused by incessant rains and flooding in the state.
Kageri asked how he could run the House if every member was to be given time. By then, over 25 members had already spoken on the issue.
Exasperated, the Speaker asked the members to decide on their own. Looking at Ramesh Kumar, Kageri said in a lighter vein, “I have to enjoy the situation and say ‘yes, yes’. I should give up trying to control the situation and conduct the proceedings in a systematic manner.”
Ramesh Kumar intervened and said, “See, there is a saying — When rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That’s exactly the position you are in.”
Instead of opposing the offensive remark, the Speaker and members were heard breaking out into laughter.
Later in the evening, Khanapur Congress MLA Anjali Nimbalkar tweeted, “The House shall apologise to entire womanhood, every mother, sister & daughter of this nation for such an obnoxious & shameless behaviour (SIC).”