After the alleged gangrape of a Dalit woman in Hathras, UP, resulted in massive outrage and brought back memories of the Nirbhaya incident from 2012, a BJP MLA in the Ballia district has made a bizarre statement.?
"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 said according to a report in NDTV.?
"It's my dharma, government's dhrama but family's dharma too... While the government is committed to protecting, the family should be committed too to imbibe good values in their children. Sanskar and sarkaar can make India beautiful, there is no other alternative," he added as can be heard in the video.?
"Why do you think rape cases continue even as people say this is Ram Rajya?" he went on to say.?
?Here's how people reacted to what he had to say:?
Surendra is known to make controversial statements. In 2019, he said Nathuram Godse, the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi, 'was not a terrorist' and he 'committed a mistake'.?
Earlier in 2020, he called West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee a 'cruel-hearted woman'.??