When male Indian politicians aren’t reprimanding women for wearing jeans, attending university, or betraying sanskari values, they’re habitually stepping across the lines of appropriate behaviour—with their hands.On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit held a press conference and decided the appropriate response to a question was to patronisingly caress the cheek of the journalist asking it. You would think the 78-year-old would know better, mired as he is in a “sex for degrees” case, but no. The Week journalist Lakshmi Subramanian’s on-camera cringe is completely priceless.
We’re not sure what we expected from someone who thinks rape can be “sometimes right, sometimes wrong,” but we’re still taken back by former Madhya Pradesh CM Babulal Gaur’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, “move-along” tap to someone boarding a bus.Chalenge saath-saath, daale haathon mein haath
And then there’s Karnataka Congress leader TP Ramesh who confused patriotism with patriarchy at a function last Independence Day, grabbing the arm of the MLC worker next to him, who gently and firmly put it back. Ramesh resigned after this incident.Dance masti
Nayaran Dutt Tiwari resigned as Governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2009 citing his health. We’re sure it had nothing to do with the sting operation showing him in a compromising position at Raj Bhavan with three women around then. And here he is in 2013, clinging like a limpet to an anchor while she continues to report in Lucknow.
We’ve been fans of actor Nagma since King Uncle, and for a good reason. Here she is, taking none of Congress legislator Gajraj Singh’s shit when he forcibly tried to kiss the actor during a campaign in Hapur. She gave it right back to Congress candidate Hussain Ahmed too, when he tried to caress her as she garlanded him at a function.Garlanding is clearly an occupational hazard for women in the public sphere. In this video, a man identified as a Jaipur municipal counselor takes the opportunity to get in a little handling of love-handles. Not cool, dude.On the other hand
Sometimes, netas are the ones being transgressed upon. Baby-faced Rahul Gandhi met with nearly 600 women in Assam's Jorhat but he was clearly not prepared for the kiss on the cheek that followed a handshake.
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As Subramanian, points out, intent doesn’t matter here, it was an unwanted gesture, extremely out-of-pocket when someone is doing their job. Cheek-patting—along with bum-tapping, boob-squishing, and knee-fondling—are unfortunately all-too common in when it comes to our illustrious politicians:Butt, actually
We’re not sure what we expected from someone who thinks rape can be “sometimes right, sometimes wrong,” but we’re still taken back by former Madhya Pradesh CM Babulal Gaur’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, “move-along” tap to someone boarding a bus.Chalenge saath-saath, daale haathon mein haath
And then there’s Karnataka Congress leader TP Ramesh who confused patriotism with patriarchy at a function last Independence Day, grabbing the arm of the MLC worker next to him, who gently and firmly put it back. Ramesh resigned after this incident.Dance masti
Nayaran Dutt Tiwari resigned as Governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2009 citing his health. We’re sure it had nothing to do with the sting operation showing him in a compromising position at Raj Bhavan with three women around then. And here he is in 2013, clinging like a limpet to an anchor while she continues to report in Lucknow.
Is haar mein jeet?
We’ve been fans of actor Nagma since King Uncle, and for a good reason. Here she is, taking none of Congress legislator Gajraj Singh’s shit when he forcibly tried to kiss the actor during a campaign in Hapur. She gave it right back to Congress candidate Hussain Ahmed too, when he tried to caress her as she garlanded him at a function.
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Sometimes, netas are the ones being transgressed upon. Baby-faced Rahul Gandhi met with nearly 600 women in Assam's Jorhat but he was clearly not prepared for the kiss on the cheek that followed a handshake.