Congress leader Digvijay Singh courted a fresh controversy when he described party Member of Parliament Meenakshi Natarajan "sou tanch khara maal" (totally pure), remarks that were slammed as sexist and derogatory.
"Our party MP, Meenakshi Natrajan is a Gandhian, simple and an honest leader. She keeps going from place to place in her constituency. I am a seasoned smith of politics. Meenakshi Sou Tanch Khara Maal Hai (totally pure)," the Congress General Secretary said addressing party workers in Mandsaur town on Thursday.
Natrajan, Congress MP from Mandsaur, is one of the members of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's youth brigade.
Digvijay Singh's remark were slammed by the Bharatiya Janata Party with party leader Vinay Katiyar saying that he had lost his mental balance and needs treatment urgently.
"We have stopped taking Digivijaya Singh seriously," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said. Katiyar said, "Digvijay Singh has lost his mental balance. We would request the government to make him undergo treatment at the earliest at a mental hospital."
Madhya Pradesh Minister for Industries Kailash Vijaywargiya alleged that Singh had brought shame to the state with his remarks. Congress found it hard to defend Singh's controversial statements as party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary ducked a barrage of questions saying she had not heard them.
Singh, however, on Friday clarified that his remark meant that Natrajan was like "pure gold" and threatened to take legal action against TV channels for wrongly reporting it. Natarajan herself said there's nothing offensive in the comment and it was just a colloquial phase which should bee seen in the context of what the leader had said.
