Karnataka former speaker Ramesh Kumar makes crass remarks and apologises

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Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec. 17: A day after stoking controversy over his insensitive ‘enjoy rape’ remarks inside the Assembly,  former speaker and Congress senior legislator, K. R. Ramesh Kumar on Friday apologised for his comments made on the floor of the house on Thursday.

On Thursday, during one of the debate, Mr Kumar had made a comment pointing at speaker, Vishweshwara Hegde Kaageri, that “When rape is inevitable, you must lie down and enjoy it.”

His comments had come after, Mr Kaageri said that he was fed-up of making several appeals to bring house in order and looking at former speaker, Mr Kumar, Mr Kaageri had stated that now I have realised that why you (Mr Kumar )used  to get upset when you were sitting in this chair.

Reacting to this, Mr Kumar made a crass humoured statement. After this statement members and speaker had a laugh and house business went on as usual.

https://youtu.be/3_PPeuYyiDA

Realising that his remark would trigger a controversy, Mr Kumar had tweeted on Thursday late night itself stating that “My intention was not trivialise or make light of the heinous crime, but an off-the-cuff remark! I will choose my words carefully henceforth!”

But as the controversy grew bigger, Mr Kumar made a voluntary statement on the floor of the house on Friday, where he apologised by stating “If it (my comment) hurts the sentiments of women, I have no problem apologising. I apologise from the bottom of my heart.”

The apology was backed by the Speaker, Kaageri who was seen laughing at the comment on Thursday, said,  “He has apologised, let’s not drag it further.”

Mr Kumar’s apology came after some of his own party members, Khanapur MLA, Anjali Nimbalkar and Rajya Sabha MP, Syed Nasser condemned his remarks terming it as such insensitive remarks should not be made in any public space.

Disapproving Mr Kuamr’s remarks Karnataka party affairs in-charge, Randeep Surjewala on Friday tweeted, “Congress Party disapproves the exchange of highly objectionable & insensitive banter between Karnataka Assembly Speaker & Sr. Congress MLA in the House. (sic)”

Earlier, in support of Mr Kumar, Karnataka Congress president, D. K. Shivakumar also tweeted, “The Congress party condemns the words spoken by one of our own legislators in the Karnataka assembly. The insensitive remarks against women are contrary to the values of gender equality the Congress party champions.”

“While we note that the legislator has tendered an apology, the incident in the assembly is a sign that all of us men in politics need to do better to shed our inherent regressive attitudes towards women,” he added.

Issuing an apology on Ramesh Kumar’s behalf, Shivakumar said, “As the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, I am deeply saddened that such words were uttered by a Congress MLA. To all the women of Karnataka, I am sorry and I will ensure words like these are never repeated.”

Mr Kumar is not new to making such comments, in 2019 too, when he was serving as a speaker in the Assembly, had stated that he felt like ‘rape victim’, after an alleged audio tape leaked on TV channels alleging that he was negotiating for a hefty sum of bribe with former chief minister, B. S. Yediyurappa.

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