'To women of Karnataka, I am sorry': D K Shivakumar on Ramesh Kumar's rape 'joke'

Shivakumar said that Kumar’s 'insensitive remarks against women' are contrary to the values of gender equality that Congress bats for

Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar on Friday said sorry to all women of Karnataka following his senior party colleague K R Ramesh Kumar’s 'joke' on rape in the Assembly.

“To all the women of Karnataka, I am sorry and I will ensure words like these are never repeated,” Shivakumar said in a tweet, adding that he is “deeply saddened” over Kumar’s comments.

On Friday, Kumar, a former Speaker, issued an apology on the floor of the Assembly.

“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,” Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar also said that Kumar’s “insensitive remarks against women” are contrary to the values of gender equality that the Congress bats for.

Also read: BJP slams Congress for Karnataka MLA's 'rape' comments

Entire Assembly should apologise

Congress MLA Anjali Nimbalkar demanded that the entire Assembly should apologise for the incident.

Speaking to reporters, Nimbalkar said that women legislators from the Congress wanted to raise the issue in the Assembly and protest the remarks. However, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri denied the request.

“Elected representatives are forgetting the pain of the victims when the word 'rape' is used lightly. We wanted to raise the issue as none of the women legislators was present when the statement was made," she said.

Soon after Kumar said he was sorry, Muzrai Minister Shashikala Jolle rose to speak further, but Kageri did not allow it.

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