Comment on Priyanka lands Vinay Katiyar in soup

Sexism seemed integral to electioneering with the BJP’s Vinay Katiyar commenting on Priyanka Gandhi’s looks and Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav comparing the value of a vote to a “daughter’s honour”.

Katiyar unapologetically objectified not just Priyanka Gandhi, but also women campaigners from his own party, stating that the BJP has “artists and heroines more beautiful” than the Congress’ star campaigner in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. “…There are girls and women more beautiful than her (Priyanka) and are also star campaigners. Some of them are artists and heroines...they are more beautiful than her,” he said.

Katiyar’s comment received a hard-hitting reply from Priyanka, whose statement, tweeted by her aide Preeti Sahai, mocked the BJP leader, saying the Congress indeed had women campaigners and that she can only laugh at him if beauty is all he sees in them. “Ha. Ha. Ha. He is right. They do! And if that’s all he sees in my colleagues who are such strong, brave and beautiful women who have battled through all sorts of hardships to get where they are, then he makes me laugh even more. Because he exposes the BJP’s mindset towards the better of half of the population of India,” said Priyanka was quoted as saying.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also expressed regret, saying “neither the government, nor the party subscribes to these comments”.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala issued a series of tweets attacking the BJP’s attitude towards women: “BJP-RSS suffer from a deep-rooted and retrograde, anti-woman mindset. There is a long list led by Mohan Bhagwat and Kailash Vijayvargiya”.

Katiyar, in the meantime, did not seem aware of the import of his comment. He asserted that if the Congress was under the impression that they have the “beautiful face” of Priyanka for campaigning then the BJP too had many beautiful faces. “It is wrong and unfair to compare beauty with capability, but the Congress is doing this,” said Katiyar.

Meanwhile, JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav said at a function in Patna that the value of a vote was much higher than the “honour of a daughter”. Yadav has earlier been criticised for making controversial comments in Parliament about the beauty and physical attributes of “women from South India”, besides attacking Textiles Minister Smriti Irani in sexist terms.

“ Yeh beti ki izzat se bhi vote ki izzat badi hai. Beti ki izzat jayegi to gaon or mohalle ki izzat kayegi. Aur vote ek bar bikgaya, ek bar gadbad hogayato ilake ki, desh ki aabru aur ane wala sapna kabhi pura nahin hoga (The value of a vote is bigger than the honour of a daughter. If the daughter loses her honour, only the locality and the village lose face. But if a vote is sold once or there is a problem, the whole region and the country lose honour. And the dream of the future is shattered),” said Yadav at a function in Patna.

The National Commission for Women has reportedly issued a notice to Yadav for his comment.

Meanwhile, Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra demanded an apology from the BJP and said the ruling party had a “misogynistic” mindset and did it not believe in treating women as equal. “This exposes the shameful mindset of some of our political leaders. We all need to respect women and accept them as equals instead of commoditising and objectifying them. As a society, we need to bring in a change. Vinay Katiyar should publicly apologise for his remarks,” he said.

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