The Hindu : AIDWA flays Fernandes' remarks

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Thursday, May 02, 2002

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AIDWA flays Fernandes' remarks

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 1. Upset over the ``outrageous and inhuman remarks'' made by the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, during the discussion on Gujarat in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) said today that the Minister had ``set new records of political indecency by ridiculing the grotesque forms of violence that Muslim women and children have been subjected to in the communal carnage in Gujarat.''

In a statement, the AIDWA noted that it is nothing but ``perverted logic that justifies the present violence in Gujarat against women with comparisons of what occurred during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.''

Of the view that ``a man like him should find no place in any Government, even in one as compromised as this,'' the AIDWA general secretary, Brinda Karat, said: ``His statement will further hurt the sentiments and deepen the insecurities of the lakhs of victims waiting for justice.''

The AIDWA said that Mr. Fernandes had sent out a ``deadly message'' to the women victims of communal violence that they should remain silent sufferers and, ``expect to become victims in communal attacks. For those who rule India today, past communal atrocities against women rather than providing lessons for the governments to ensure preventive measures, become precedents to legitimise present and future violence against women.''

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