Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Under Fire for Misogynistic Comments Again

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and former Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mullappally Ramachandran, is once again in the limelight due to his misogynist comments. While addressing a protest against Left Democratic Front government (LDF) government the KPCC chief said that a woman with self-respect would die if she was raped, and that if she had been sexually assaulted she would make sure it didn’t happen again.

Addressing a protest meet at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, the Congress chief said, “... it''s a desperate attempt by the (Left) to dress up a prostitute and make her stand behind the curtain and narrate her tales. This will not work.”

“One can understand when a woman is raped once. But what if she repeatedly says it. A woman with self-respect will either die by suicide after she is raped or try not to be sexually assaulted again,” he said. Ramachandran attempting to criticise the LDF after Saritha Nair, accused of the Solar Scam, approached the police recently and accused former Congress Minister A.P. Anil Kumar of raping her.

The Kerala Solar Scam rocked the then UDF government headed by Oommen Chandy after reports surfaced in 2013 that some of his staff allegedly duped several people of crores of rupees. Ramachandran was apparently referring to Nair when he made the remarks on Sunday.

However, he tendered an unconditional apology after coming under fire from women leaders, including those from his party.

While health minister K.K. Shailaja termed the remarks “highly condemnable”, the state commission for women registered a case against the Congress chief. “It was an anti-women statement from Mullappally Ramachandran. He said the victim would commit suicide after rape. Rape is the most brutal crime against women and children. The statement is a disgrace to the society as such,” Shailaja said in a video message.

Ramachandran said his statements were misinterpreted by certain people. Shailaja added that offering an apology after making such '”deplorable'” statements was not enough as this was not the first time that the Congress leader had made such comments.

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“It’'s a disgrace to the cultural society of Kerala to have a political leadership which makes such disparaging statements against women repeatedly. Political parties should rein in such attempts (sic)," Women's commission chief M.C. Josephine said in a release.

Lashing out at the KPCC chief, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said “he speaks in the same language about rape victims as the BJP does. We have heard what the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and other BJP leaders say about rape victims; blaming rape victims. Ramachandran has joined that gang to blame rape victims for the atrocities against them. Shame on him," Karat said in a video message while seeking his removal as Congress President. Congress MLA Shanimol Usman condemned the statement as well, calling it “unfortunate”.

Dr. T.N. Seema, former Rajya Sabha member, said: “There is no difference in misogyny, whether it is Vijay P. Nair (infamous YouTuber who creates offensive content against women) or Mullappally. Its a disgusting mind-set,” she said, adding that one could expect no better from someone who insulted Shailaja Teacher.

It is not the first time that the KPCC chief has made such remarks. On June 19, while inaugurating a one-day fast by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala against the Kerala government's alleged “failure” in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramachandran targeted K.K. Shailaja, calling her “COVID Rani” and “Nipah Rajkumari”, which translates to "COVID queen" and "Nipah princess".

"During the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode, though many people claimed credit for the efforts, it was actually a set of committed doctors, colleagues of Dr Muneer (deputy leader of opposition), nurses and a group of committed para medical staff who were the ones who took steps against Nipah. Dr Muneer, myself, Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala were there (Kozhikode) during this crisis, I was there all the time as an MP," he said back then.

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"Our health minister camped there (Kozhikode) as a guest artist (during Nipah outbreak). Now the government is taking credit. And just the way she is making efforts to get the title of 'Covid Rani', she then competed to earn the title 'Nipah Princess'," he had said.

Though the KPCC chief had come under criticism for his anti-women statements, he had said he had been misinterpreted.

“The outrage against K.K. Shailaja stems from a particular mindset. That is anti-women. Is this how you see women? It's unfortunate that the KPCC president has fallen to the level to think that words like this would bring applause from supporters or grab headlines," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had lambasted the KPCC chief then.

With Inputs from PTI