A day after Karnataka Health Minister Dr K. Sudhakar dared all 225 legislators of the state to face a "test of morality", the women leaders and legislators from the Congress party demanded his resignation from the cabinet and dismissal from the assembly, too.
"The six ministers who have secured a gag order on the media from the court should resign not just from the cabinet but also quit as MLAs as it is an admission of guilt. A “nalayak” (incapable) minister from the BJP, which is known for its "lancha"(bribery) and "mancha"(bed) is making such a derogatory statement. He should be barred from contesting elections too," said Mahila Congress president Pushpa Amarnath, during a press meet held at Congress Bhavan in Bengaluru on Thursday.
During the meet, the women MLAs from the Congress party urged Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to dismiss the minister immediately.
KGF legislator Roopa Shashidhar lamented over the "lack of respect" for women even among the elected representatives. "Karnataka assembly has seen stalwarts as its members in the past. Today, a minister is making derogatory remarks about the members and also the CM and the speaker. But he goes unpunished. A few days back, a Congress member was suspended for inappropriate behaviour inside the House. And yesterday, the speaker took no action against the minister who degraded the elected representatives and later tweeted his apology. The minister who fails to understand the sanctity of this House does not deserve to be there," said Roopa.
Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar dared the health minister to produce evidence before the court if he had any, before making accusations against the Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar. "The minister is from a party that is always chanting the name of Lord Rama. But he is busy insulting the political fraternity and especially women. Do the women members of the BJP - Shobha Karandlaje, Shashikala Jolle, Bharati Shetty, Tejaswini Gowda, Rupali Naik and Poornima Srinivas - approve of such shameful remarks? Does it reflect the Hindu culture and their idea of a Hindu Rashtra? As it is there are only a handful of women in politics enduring many challenges," said Hebbalkar, adding they would email the minister's statement to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Jayanagar MLA Soumya Reddy seconded the fact that there were very few women in politics and the "irresponsible" statement of the minister was making politics untenable to women. "As an activist and social worker, when I interact with children, I have never heard them say they want to be a politician when they grow up. People are laughing at the politicians. As a woman, I have to work ten times harder to prove myself in this field riddled with patriarchy, misogyny, sexism and mansplaining. Of all the problems that we are facing today, like the unemployment, COVID-19, poverty, women safety, the minister chose to speak words that degrade the elected representatives and the House. I don't know whether to cry or laugh," said Reddy.