Haryana's new CM supports Khap; had blamed women for rising number of rapes in India

India

oi-Aswathy

Chandigarh, Oct 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party has finally found a chief minister for Haryana - Former RSS man Manohar Lal Khattar. The 60-year-old was unanimously chosen by the party cadre to be the state's first BJP chief minister.

The selection of Khattar surprised many - Khattar will be the first non-Jat chief minister to rule the Jat-dominated Haryana in 18 years. He is a Khatri by caste.

Reportedly, Khattar's name was proposed by BJP state president Ram Bilas Sharma, who described Khattar as a very honest man. Sharma also went on to claim that Khattar "is a visionary leader and will develop Haryana like no other government in the past".

However, Khattar, in the past, has kicked off many a controversies which seem to tell that he's not a 'visionary leader' as Sharma had described him to be.

A Scroll article says that Khattar is an ideal RSS worker, who holds conservative views on issues like women's rights, pre-marital sex and Khap panchayats. Even during his election campaign, Khattar had blamed women for India's rising number of sexual assaults.

"If a girl is dressed decently, a boy will not look at her in the wrong way," Khattar had said. When asked whether young people should have freedom of choice, he replied, "If you want freedom, why don't they just roam around naked? Freedom has to be limited. These short clothes are western influences. Our country's tradition asks girls to dress decently."

Pre-marital sex happen when the minds of girls and boys "are not on the right track" , he had said.

Khattar is also a strong vocal supporter of Khap Panchayats - the infamous kangaroo courts in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. During his campaign, Khattar had said that Khap rulings are justified as they are only trying to maintain Indian traditions and culture in the state.

Haryana is one of the states where the crime against women is the highest. It has one of the lowest sex ratios in India - 833 women to every 1000 men.

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