'Women with lipstick, bob cut will come forward': Senior RJD leader's remark on women quota sparks row

While the country celebrated the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the Special Parliamentary Session earlier this month, a senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui stoked a controversy Saturday saying women with lipsticks and bob-cut hairstyles would come forward in the name of reservation.

“Those with lipsticks and bob cut hairstyles would come forward in the name of women’s reservation. The government should instead provide reservations for women belonging to backward communities,” Siddique said during an address in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.

VIDEO | “Now that women’s reservation is being talked about, we demand that there should be a reservation within the reservation for the OBC and backward castes,” says RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui on women’s reservation act. pic.twitter.com/O2fBOBQ1sn

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 30, 2023

The leader also asked his supporters to avoid watching television and stay away from social media until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections conclude.

“You should stop watching the TV and spending time on social media without using your brains,” he said.

Siddiqui’s defence

The senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader later said that he did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments by making the statement.

He said, “In that rally, hundreds of rural women were there… I used that language to explain to the rural woman in their language.”

#WATCH | Patna, Bihar: On his reported statement on women, RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui says, “In that rally, hundreds of rural women were there… I used that language to explain to the rural woman in their language. My intention was not to hurt anyone… If someone is hurt, I… pic.twitter.com/vWCPCKbvUQ

— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2023

He added, “My intention was not to hurt anyone… If someone is hurt, I express regret… It was a gathering of extremely backward classes and I was teaching them… RJD had been in support of Women’s Reservation since the beginning…”