Bharatiya Janata Party member and Uttar Pradesh’s lawmaker, Vikram Singh Saini, has been recorded making off-colour remarks about women while giving a speech on the scrapping of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status.
"Muslim party workers should rejoice in the new provisions. They can now marry the white-skinned women of Kashmir,” Saini declared.
“Earlier, there was lot of atrocities on women. If a woman from Kashmir got married to a man from Uttar Pradesh, her citizenship would be revoked. There was different citizenship for India and Kashmir," he added in a video clip which was widely circulated on social media.
Saini made the remark while addressing a gathering to celebrate the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill at a function in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district.
The remarks were widely perceived as being in bad taste even among those who applauded the government’s decision to divide Jammu and Kashmir state into two federally administered entities.
The lawmaker was widely criticised for his remarks, with Bollywood actress Richa Chadha and Writer Zainab Sikander showing their disapproval. Others called his speech “sexist” and “racist”.
Other social media users said the legislator’s speech was made largely in jest and not something that people should get too worked up over.