Mumbai: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the alleged listing of MP Raksha Khadse as ‘homosexual’ on the ruling party’s official website. On noticing the aberration, Deshmukh said that if the BJP did not intervene, the Cyber Cell of Maharashtra Police would have to step in.
After a Twitter user highlighted the matter, Deshmukh retweeted: ‘‘Shocking to see such a derogatory description of Raksha Khadse, BJP MP from Maharashtra, on the official site of the BJP. Maha Govt. will not tolerate this disrespectful behaviour towards women. @BJP4India must take action against those responsible or @MahaCyber1 will step in.’’
State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil in his reaction said, ‘‘The BJP will definitely find out who is behind this and take action. But, Home Minister, if you were really so sympathetic to women's dignity, you would never have used such a defamatory text in a tweet.’’
However, BJP MP Raksha Khadse, who is NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s daughter-in-law, clarified that the description had not appeared on the BJP’s official website but on a page called 'Save Maharashtra from BJP'.
‘‘We don’t know who runs it. The news has gone viral. It has appeared on that site and it appears to have been photoshopped. I have spoken to Jalgaon Superintendent of Police Pravin Munde and he is investigating,’’ she added.
She claimed that whether it had happened intentionally or by mistake, it had lowered the dignity of women.
However, following the minister's tweet, several Twitter-users pointed out that the alleged tag below the MP's name was due to a translation glitch. The official website of the BJP offers viewers the option to view its content in Hindi and English.
‘‘Sir it’s google translate Originally the page was in English, she just used translated version which changed the city name to something different Raver in English means homosexual, but it’s a village in Maharashtra Band will become "baaja" Sing surname will become "Gaana" (sic),’’ wrote one user.
‘‘However, when we checked the website, the page did not mention her as homosexual,’’ said another user.
