Samajwadi Party leader Abi Azmi has given a controversial statement against women. On February 17, while commenting on the Priya Ramani case, Azmi alleged that modern women who get in live-in relationships, roam around with men and later blame men for sexual assault are among the reasons for atrocities against women.
महिलाओं के लिए @abuasimazmi के विवादित बोल क्यों ?
— Romana Isar Khan (@romanaisarkhan) February 17, 2021
संविधान से चलने वाले भारत में इस्लामिक कानून की पैरवी क्यों?#संविधानकीशपथ मे @abuasimazmi से लेगें जवाब
10pm @ABPNews @awasthis @manojkumarmukul pic.twitter.com/mjSv1RaBip
Blaming the Indian laws that allow women to have live-in relationships with men, Azmi said that the direction is wrong. He cited Islamic law and said that in Islamic Laws women are not allowed to live or have any relationship with men without marriage. He alleged that every religion has the same law. He claimed that live-in relationships are part of western culture.
Azmi also blamed media for terming accused men as guilty while the investigation is still on. He urged media to show reality and not form any conclusions on their own.
Heated argument with ABP anchor Romana Isar Khan
ABP News anchor Romana Isar Khan had invited Abu Azmi to question him on his statement against women on her show ‘Samvidhan Shapath’. During the discussion, Romana and Azmi got into a heated argument over his remarks against women. Romana argued that if Azmi believes that the law is wrong, he should correct it. She further questioned Azmi why he used derogatory words against women and painted the wrong picture of modern women. She also asked Azmi if he believes women should not be free to work or go outside the house.
WATCH | समानता का अधिकार भूल गए अबु आजमी ?
— ABP News (@ABPNews) February 17, 2021
संविधान की शपथ, रोमान इसार खान (@romanaisarkhan) के साथ #AbuAzmi pic.twitter.com/phtl7kgCj5
Azmi, who was visibly angry with the anchors’ comments, blamed her for misinterpreting his statement. He claimed that he and his party respects women and it was not correct to call him anti-women. When Romana said that the assaulters do not differentiate between a 2-year-old girl child and an 80-year-old woman and people like Azmi enable them by blaming women for being modern, Azmi called Romana a liar and claimed he never said anything against women. He said his statement was edited to make him look bad.
Woman, Parda and Dung
In his statement, Abu Azmi had mentioned that the Indian culture is not what modern woman illustrates, but it is the woman who has a feet long parda while carrying dung on her head. When Romana questioned him about the depiction of women in his statement, Azmi said that he saw a woman with feet-long ghoonghat and carrying cow dung on his head in a village he had visited some time back. He claimed that though there was no man around at that time, the woman was still in ‘parda’.
Romana questioned him why he could not find any woman as an example from cities like Mumbai but gave the example of a woman that he saw long bank in a village. Azmi claimed he found the woman in the village in sync with the Indian culture and said that modern women should go and live in western countries like America. Romana alleged that Azmi liked the woman in the village only because it was in sync with his patriarchal mentality.
‘Roam around naked for all I care’ said Azmi
When Romana argued if he wanted women to stay home like hostages, Azmi got irritated and said he does not care if she wants to roam around naked. Romana further asked if he feels those who do not wear Burkha are not wearing clothes at all. Azmi got rattled by cross-questioning and tried to divert the discussion to farmer protests. He said those who are supporting farmers are being targeted by the media.
Unnecessary hinduphobic comment
While arguing with Azmi, Romana made an unnecessary Hinduphobic comment in her show. She said that Azmi’s respect for women is similar because women are worshipped in the country where rapes happen too often.
