Sharad Yadav criticised for calling South Indian women 'dark skinned'

Kolkata: Woman rights activist Saswati Ghosh on Friday criticised Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)) leader Sharad Yadav for his remark on the skin colour of South Indian women in the Parliament.

Saswati said Sharad Yadav should avoid making such statements as he is a representative of the people.

"Dark skin is the natural thing in India. Any Indian woman is a dark skinned person or a brown skinned person. Calling someone dark skinned and putting it in a derogatory sense is extremely offensive. He has also made some derogatory remark on women even earlier. He should not make such remarks because he is one of the MPs and is representing people," Ghosh told ANI.

According to reports, during the debate on the Insurance Bill in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Yadav stated that, "The women of south are beautiful, their bodies...their skin ...They aren't made like this here. They know dance".

The senior JD (U) leader also described the proposal to raise foreign investment cap to 49 percent as a reflection of an obsession with fair skin.

"Here people are awed by fair skin. In our matrimonials too we look for gori, gori (fair skin)," he said.

He also reportedly commented on the maker of the controversial 'India's Daughters' documentary, Leslee Udwin, saying she gained easy access to shoot her film because of her skin colour.