Kolar (Karnataka): A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Karnataka on Thursday asked a woman to wear a bindi, as he pointed out her lack of 'common sense' for not doing so. During the inauguration of an exhibition and sales fair event to mark women's day celebration here, S Muniswamy, a BJP MLA from Karnataka's Kolar district, scolded a woman vendor trying to sell the clothes she had on display at her shop.
"Wear a Bindi first. Your husband is alive, isn't he? You have no common sense," Kolar BJP Lok Sabha MP shouted at the woman vendor. The video of the incident surfaced on Twitter after some Congress leaders shared it as they slammed the MP for the controversial comment.
In the video, the leader can be seen taking a stroll through the stalls at the exhibition as he stops at a clothes stall. Surrounded by several other men, he takes a look at the clothes on display at the shop for a few seconds before he starts bashing the woman in Kannada. He can be seen visibly furious at her for not having worn a bindi, as he scolds her and storms off the stall. No-one interrupts him. The woman also listens to him calmly as the courteous smile on her face retains itself despite the insult.
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Condemning the video, the Congress party said such incidents "reflect the culture" of the BJP. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also reacted to the video and slated the ruling party saying that “the Ayatollahs of the BJP will have their version of the ‘moral police’ patrolling the streets.”
Several other netizens also slammed the behaviour. "Enraging to witness the impudence of this BJP MP from #Karnataka on #WomensDay. Can he tolerate, if someone talks this way to his mother, wife or sister? Shameful," a tweet by user Nayani Anurag Reddy read. Another user, also a journalist by profession, Anusha Ravi Sood, calls the 'audacity of the MP from Karnataka, the misogyny in his tone and sexist behaviour while talking to a woman and shaming her' as infuriating.
