Only 'sanskar' can prevent rapes, teach good values to daughters: BJP MLA

As protests and outrage continue across India over the alleged gang-rape and subsequent death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, BJP MLA Surendra Singh from UP's Ballia believes that only Sanskar (culture) can help prevent rape cases in India, NDTV reported.

He said, "It's the duty of all mothers and fathers to imbibe good values in their daughters and bring them up in cultured environments."

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"I am a teacher along with being an MLA. Such incidents (like rape) can be stopped only with sanskar, not with shasan (governance) or talwar (sword or might)," he is heard saying on video.

Upon being asked, why he thought rape cases are rampant even in this Ram Rajya, the BJP MLA, known for making controversial statements in the past, said, "It's my dharma (duty), government's dhrama but family's dharma too... While the government is committed to protect, the family should be committed too to imbibe good values in their children. Sanskar and sarkaar (government) can make India beautiful, there is no other alternative."

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Earlier, Singh was in the spotlight for saying that Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi "was not a terrorist" and that he "committed a mistake". He had also taken a dig at West Bengal CM Mamata Banjerjee and called her a "cruel-hearted woman".