April 26, 2018

By Our Correspondent

AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb today said 1997 Miss World Diana Hayden was not worthy of being crowned beauty pageant contest winner. His comments have drawn widespread criticism cutting across students, politicians, social workers etc.

Addressing the inaugural event of a One Day Design Workshop at Prajna Bhavan here, Chief Minister Deb said he did not see beauty of Diana Hayden and failed to understand the “process of judging winners”.

Deb today praised 1994 Miss World winner Aishwarya Rai and said her victory was ‘alright’. “Aishwarya Rai was crowned Miss World and that’s alright. She represents the Indian woman”, Deb said. He claimed Indian women were like Goddess Laxmi or Saraswati and Aishwarya Rai was an embodiment of them. However, he criticized Diana Hayden and said, “I do not see or understand her beauty from miles apart (door door tak)”.

Biplab Deb, who often practices speaking in broken Hindi, said all international fashion and design contest organizers in Paris are “international marketing mafia”.

“They take girls and make them walk with fabric on ramps. Those who give certificates are all international textile market mafia. They plan from before which one will be awarded this time and this is 100 percent true”, Deb said.

He claimed Indians were crowned Miss World and Miss Universe “five years in a row” to grab the Indian cosmetic market since Indian women did not use cosmetics or shampoo in old times.

“Indian women did not use cosmetics. They didn’t use shampoo. We washed our hair with methi water for hair-fall and bathed with mud. Beauty contest organizers are international marketing mafia, who tried to capture a market of 125 crore Indians with half the population from women. There is a beauty parlour in every corner”, Biplab said.

He claimed beauty contest winners are not from India anymore since the market is already captured. He missed reigning Miss World Manushi Chillar, who hails from Haryana and was crowned in 2017.

Deb has got a habit of pulling off a series of faux pas since he became Chief Minister on March 09. He started with claiming River Amazon is in Africa, went on to claim Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang or XangXang was a journalist and said ancient Indians used Internet and artificial satellites during the Battle of Mahabharata. His new controversial comment has, however, not assumed people like the previous ones.

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