Protestors 'dented, painted women': Prez son

Yahoo! India News – Thu 27 Dec, 2012

NEW DELHI: Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday sparked off a major controversy with his sexist remarks made against anti-rape protestors in New Delhi.

Abhijit, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Jangipur, West Bengal (his father's Lok Sabha constituency till he moved to Rashtrapati Bhavan), while speaking to the Bengali news channel ABP News, said: "Those who are on the streets pretending to be students, are "highly dented and painted women" seeking two minutes of fame.

He said that "women are giving interviews on TV as if they are there to show off to their children, etc. Are they really students? I have my doubts. Because women of that age are not students, generally."

"What is happening in Delhi is like a Pink Revolution. The people who are on the streets have no idea of what the ground reality is. Walking on the roads of India with candles, going to discotheques," he added.
"We have also been students, we have also led the life of students. We know what the character of students should be."

The remarks led to women's groups and opposition parties protesting against the President's son.
Predictably, Mukherjee is now blaming the media for his remarks, saying that he was misquoted.

"I was talking about students only. The person I was talking about was at least 35 years old, she was not a student. Whom I saw, giving an interview on TV, my comment is based on that. I was asked about whether it was a student movement. She was not a student. She was not young. But if I have hurt anyone, I apologise,"  he said while speaking to CNN IBN.

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