Row after Maharashtra Governor ‘mocks’ Savitribai Phule’s child marriage
The Hindu
Koshyari’s remarks smack of Sangh mentality, says Congress
After drawing flak for his controversial remarks on Maratha warrior King Shivaji, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was slammed by the ruling Congress for allegedly mocking 19 th century social reformers Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule for “getting married at a young age”.
Mr. Koshyari, who recently stoked controversy when he said Samarth Ramdas was Chhatrapati Shivaji’s ‘guru’ contrary to historical evidence, was now taken to task by the Congress which tweeted part of a clip of the Governor’s address made in Pune on February 14.
In the clip, Mr. Koshyari is seen chortling while commenting on the child marriage of Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule.
“Savitribai was married off when she was ten years old… and her husband [Jyotirao] was 13 years old. Now imagine, what would the boy and girl have been doing after marriage? What would they have been thinking?” Mr. Koshyari had said, while cackling with laughter during the inauguration of a statue of Savitribai Phule in the city last month.
The Congress, which shares power with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government, lashed out at the Governor, remarking that Mr. Koshyari’s statements smacked of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) “regressive mentality”.
“The [Governor’s] hand gestures [in the clip], the laughter...all of it is disgusting,” the party said on Twitter. “...It is Maharashtra’s misfortune that it got a Governor who does not have a sense of what to say when.”
Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were married in 1840 when child marriage was common in India.