The News Minute | September 18, 2014 | 09:27 am IST (Comment)
Bangalore: Actor and politician Hema Malini is not the talkative type who offers her remarks freely in public. In the few interviews she grants, she doesn’t say much so it is unfair to decide how much or little she knows about Indian politics, India and its many socio-economic problems.
Now the lady who won from Mathura on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket in the Lok Sabha elections has put her foot in the mouth by announcing that widows from Bengal and Bihar should not crowd the holy city of Brindavan and should stay at home.
“If they (widows) are not from here then there is no need for them to come here from other states. There are many famous temples in Bengal and Bihar too, where they can stay,” she said during a visit to her constituency, adding that the neighbouring states had many beautiful temples too.
Bridavan situated in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, has some 40,000 widows, abandoned by their families and who live on alms and charity in the city where Lord Krishna and Radha are worshipped. The practice of leaving widows is a cruel one as their status is often reduced to being outcasts and many of them reduced to begging. In fact, the widows of Brindavan are a grotesque tourist attraction and attempts to rehabilitate them have failed as many of them have neither been sustainable nor sufficient. For example, the local government once decided to give them sewing machines so they could earn their livelihoods.
Instead of addressing the core issues around this community with a view to ensuring that women are not dumped in the city, Ms. Malini suggests that they go “home” elsewhere in their states. The irony cannot be missed. The widows have no homes in Uttar Pradesh or in the neighbouring states of Bihar and Bengal. Besides, barring sensitive areas demarcated as such, there is no law in India preventing Indians from settling in any part of the country.
Do some homework, Ms. Malini. Can’t hurt.