Maharashtra Minister of Woman and Child Welfare Yashomati Thakur, on Monday, strongly criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Surendra Singh from Uttar Pradesh for asking parents to instill good values in their daughters and holding them responsible for rapes. Thakur said BJP should first teach good values to its own party members. “We have sanskar, so we did not attack you. Many of their leaders are found in many such cases and there are CDs in circulation too,” she noted.
Thakur has slammed the BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, saying that nobody should not teach women how to live. "I am a teacher along with being an MLA. Such incidents (like rape) can be stopped only with sanskar (culture), not with shasan (good governance) or talwar (referring to sword or might)," the BJP's Surendra Singh had said. He had further added, "It's the duty of all mothers and fathers to imbibe good values in their daughters and bring them up in cultured environments."
Thakur said, "We have Savitribai Phule (social reformer) because we have sanskar and good values. We became Pandita Ramabai (educationist). Indira Gandhi became the first Prime Minister of this country and Pratibha Patil, the first woman president of India, was from my Amravati district.” “Do not consider our patience as our weakness. Women are not weak. When the time comes, she becomes a Durga to fight against evil forces,” said Thakur.
