Politicians plumb lower depths

Not one of the political parties appears to be in the mood to take action against leaders who have denigrated women in shockingly insensitive comments after a 23-year-old woman was gangraped in Delhi. The Congress has decided to adopt a policy of “forget and forgive” towards the President of India’s son, party MP Abhijit Mukherjee, who described the women protesting against the Delhi gangrape as “highly dented and painted”. On Friday, in another shocker, Trinamul Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, referring to the Park Street rape case in Kolkata, called the victim a “sex worker” and said “what happened was a misunderstanding with clients”. A day after breathing fire on the President’s son, Mr Abhijit Mukherjee, for his “sexist and perverted mindset”, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat was on the backfoot on Thursday after the deputy leader of the Left Front Legislature Party in West Bengal, Anisur Rehman, wanted to know “how much would Mamata Banerjee take if she was raped”. Ms Karat, who had been demanding the heads of those politicians who had made “insensitive remarks against women”, ruled out any move to expel Rehman from the party. “We have censured him publicly and warned him,” said Ms Karat, trying to duck all embarrassing questions. Addressing a public rally in West Bengal, Anisur Rehman had said: “She (Mamata) was in the habit of picking up women, claiming that they were raped. We used to make fun of her. I told her that this won’t serve her purpose.