Press Briefing Thursday, 5th August 2010

Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan addressed the media today.


Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan made a statement about an issue which was raised in the Rajya Sabha today by Smt. Mohsina Kidwai, General Secretary. This is an outrageous attack and assault upon youth particularly young girls on what is known as ‘friendship day’ a few days ago at Raipur and at some other places in the country by people belonging to outfits and affiliated sister organizations of the BJP such as Bajrang Dal. This has become a shameful and shocking epidemic all over the country from the Sri Ram Sene in Karnataka to the Bajrang Dal in Raipur. They first picked on days like Valentine Day and now on random other days to attack, pull by the hair, blacken the face of young innocent girls in a display of hooligan goondaism which cannot be condoned by any civilized society. This bears absolutely no relationship with our culture or our values and ethos and should not be tolerated by civil society. It is unfortunate that BJP ruled Governments do not give the serious issue the attention which it deserves and often allow the culprits to get away with a very lenient punishment. We, therefore, call upon all the Governments in the areas where these incidents happen to act firmly and decisively against the culprits and to ensure that violent and moral policing does not ever happen again or is ever expressed again through the totally unacceptable tactics of attacking young defenseless girls.

To a question whether some girls were injured also in the said attack, Smt. Natarajan said we have reports that a girl was injured by the beating in Raipur particularly and she did receive medical attention but I do not have the exact details of how many girls were injured.

To another question as to whether the attack on girls in Raipur can be equated with what had happened at Pune a couple of days back, Smt. Natarajan said that is something for the parents and not for the State to intervene and that is not just girls, that is girls and boys – youth - from a College. I do not think it is simply anything on the same level that what happened. This is something between the parents and those children. This is the matter for the parents and not the matter for the Government to intervene. When it was a private party, we do not equate it on the same level as the bunch of goons attacking defenseless young girls. It simply cannot be looked in the same perspective.

On another question with regard to the stand of the Congress Party on caste consensus, Smt. Natarajan said that fact is that the Congress Party, at this point of time, is waiting for the discussion to continue and although we have our own internal discussion, we will come out with our considered stand after we have held all discussions. She further said that we will take care of the deadline. As soon as our stand is ready to be shared, we will share it.

On the question of reaction of the Congress Party on the statement of Shri Ram Jethmalani in the Rajya Sabha today, Smt. Natarajan said I think Mr. Krishna’s visit to Pakistan covered a great deal of ground in a very difficult time between the two countries and this is the stand by itself. If it is appreciated by certain quarters, we welcome it.

To a question on the comments of Smt. Sushma Swaraj on the statement of the Home Minister yesterday over the situation in J&K, Smt. Natarajan said that Hon’ble Home Minister has already made a statement in both Houses of the Parliament where it was made clear that the policies will be formulated in coordination with the State Government. She further said political dialogue can be possible only after the peace and normalcy returns to the valley. Our stand is absolutely clear.

On the question of reaction of the Congress Party on the statement of the opposition that Government should take over all Committees connected with the organization of Commonwealth Games, Smt. Natarajan said that Shri M.S. Gill, Sports Minister has made a statement in Rajya Sabha today that problem cannot be solved by merely constituting another Committee. Shri Gill further stressed that our priority should be made to conduct these Games successfully. The scams can be probed after the games are over.

To another question as to whether Mr. Suresh Kamladi should resign, Smt. Natarajan said I feel the party endorses what the Sports Minister has said and we do not have anything more to add to this.




Tom Vadakkan
Secretary, AICC