'Beautiful Girl Can Distract Mind’: Congress MLA's Shocking Remark Justifying Rape Ignites Political Storm

Bhopal: In a controversial statement, Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya appears to justify the gruesome act of rape, saying that such incidents happen because the mind gets 'distracted' seeing a ‘beautiful’ girl.

"If you see a beautiful girl, your mind can get distracted, and incidents like rape can occur," the Congress MLA from Bhander said while speaking to a private news portal, which has led to a political storm in the state, owing to her demeaning and bizarre comment.

Baraiya further went on to claim that there are “no beautiful girls” among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes communities.

In a serious and controversial claim regarding religious texts, the MLA added another shocking remark during his conversation. He said, "It is written in sacred texts that if someone cannot go on a pilgrimage, they can attain the same merit by having sexual intercourse with women from the Scheduled Castes (SC)."

According to reports, Baraiya added, "Those who cannot go on pilgrimages follow the scriptures, stay at home, and in the darkness of night, they catch hold of a girl from the Scheduled Castes and then have intercourse with her."

Further in a completely bizzare explanation for rampant cases of rape among SC, ST, and OBCs, Baraiya said, “Rape cannot be committed by just one person; at least four or five people do it. That's why rapes happen even with four-month-old and ten-month-old baby girls—the reason being that they think in their minds that if I have intercourse with the girl, I will gain the merit of this pilgrimage.”

BJP Hits Back at Congress

The deeply unsettling statements coming from the Congress MLA has received sharp rebuke from the BJP leadership. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that the Congress party has now mastered in the art of insulting Hindus and women.

"Insulting Hindus, insulting Hindu faith, insulting women - this has become the hallmark of the Congress party," Poonawalla said.

BJP's Madhya Pradesh Media-in-charge Ashish Usha Agarwal shot back saying that Baraiya's statement reflects a “sick, perverted, and criminal mindset” and is a confession of criminal mentality.

“Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya's statement is not a mere slip of the tongue, but a public display of sick, perverted, and criminal mindset. Weighing women on the scale of “beauty” and calling heinous crimes like rape against women from SC-ST communities as “tirtha phal” (fruits of pilgrimage)—  This is not a statement, it is a confession of a criminal mentality,” Agarwal said in a post on X.

Asking the Congress leadership to apologise over such brazen comments, Agarwal questioned the hypocrisy behind the grand old party's recent “Save the Constitution” slogan.

“Today, as Rahul Gandhi arrives in Madhya Pradesh, the country wants to know— Is this the real thinking of Congress? Is this the hypocrisy behind the “Save the Constitution” slogan? Jeetu Patwari and Umang Singhar, Silence will not work anymore —  Either immediate apology and expel, Or admit that Congress stands with an anti-women and anti-Dalit mindset,” the BJP leader added.

Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya has made a controversial statement regarding religious scriptures and matters related to women from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). He stated that the scriptures say that having relations with SC-ST women yields the same merit as performing a pilgrimage.

Brahmin Society Condemns Baraiya

The All India Brahmin Society of Madhya Pradesh has strongly condemned MLA Phool Singh Baraiya's controversial statement. The state president of the society, Pandit Pushpendra Mishra, in a statement, said that their organization severely condemns Baraiya.

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