New Delhi: Congress on Friday slammed RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat over his controversial comments that rape is mainly prevalent in urban India and does not happen in rural areas, asking the saffron outfit to get in sync with reality.
"He (Bhagwat) is very confused ...I think they all (RSS) have the same problem. I think it is better that they all contemplate and come out with more clarity in thought and action. That kind of dialogue is not relevant in real life," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said at the AICC briefing.
Responding sharply to Bhagwat's comments, AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said "this reflects RSS's mentality because there is no difference between India and Bharat."
Earlier Bhagwat said at a meeting in Silchar in Assam recently that "crimes against women happening in urban India are shameful.... But such crimes won't happen in Bharat or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes".
Bhagwat claimed that the incidents of rape were the result of adoption of western culture in society as a whole and that erosion of traditional Indian values was more pronounced in urban areas.
Chowdhary also came down heavily on Madhya Pradesh Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya over his remark that women must not cross the 'Lakshman rekha' to avoid unwanted consequences.
"Is he trying to say that Ram, Laxman, Hanuman all of them area weaker than Ravana? Is he going to define the Laxamnrekha for a modern progressive society? It is such regressive thinking that we strongly condemn. He is stuck in a time warp," Chowdhary said.
Taking it as yet another example of putting the onus of social accountability and responsibility only on women, she said, "We do not need Vijaywargiya's permission to go anywhere and also want to know whether his family members need his permission".
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 04, 2013, 20:30