The courageous all-India Me-too campaign has nailed powerful male personalities ranging from film directors and actors to media journalists and political leaders. I expect the veteran Congress politician Renuka Chowdhury to join the campaign, since according to her own account she had suffered sexist remarks from no less a person than India’s present Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu.
To recount, in March 2018, after Renuka Chowdhury delivered a farewell speech following her retirement from the Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha made a derisive comment about her physique: “…reduce your weight and make efforts to increase the weight of your party…”. Renuka Chowdhury did not take that comment in a lighter vein, as evident from her interview with a newspaper a few days later. While resenting that comment of Venkaiah Naidu’s, she recalled that it was not the first time that he had cast slurs on her body. Earlier, he had said to her: “Why don’t you go and see a doctor ?” In her interview, Renuka posed a counter question: “Do they (male politicians) tell men (like Venkaiah Naidu) why don’t you loose weight ?” (Deccan Chronicle; April 2, 2018).
If she felt offended – as expressed in her press interview – Renuka Chowdhury should now join the Me-Too campaign by indicting Venkaiah Naidu and charge him under clause 354 A (inserted in 2013) of the Indian Penal Code which holds that any man “making sexually coloured remarks shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment.”
May I request the Me-too campaigners to persuade Renuka Chowdhury to institute a case against the Vice President for his improper utterances – for which he hasn’t yet apologized ?
Sumanta Banerjee is a political and civil rights activist and social scientist