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
