Congress Leader Pankaj Punai Gets Slammed For Making Snide And Sexist Remarks Over PM Modi’s Sanitary Napkins Scheme. He Had It Coming.

Congress Leader Pankaj Punai Gets Slammed For Making Snide And Sexist Remarks Over PM Modi’s Sanitary Napkins Scheme. He Had It Coming.

The thing about sexist and misogynist remarks is that it doesn’t just exist in as much abundance as our overflowing population. But that most of the times it comes from the ones running the country and hoping to make it a better place. You see, it is now a fact (as sad as it may be) that at least 2 in a group of three would try to make a poorly placed point at the expense of women or their dignity. But when it is the politicians doing it, it stings a tad too much. Considering those are the same people who hold the reigns to driving any change, the idea of them getting it so wrong is indeed, worrisome. As we became after a certain Congress leader made a distasteful and sexist remark over Prime Minister Modi’s recent initiative of pricing sanitary pads at Re. 1.

It is no news that patriarchy has its claws dug deep not just in the society but also across the political spectrum of our country. But the fact our own leaders take no notice of putting their foot where their mouth is what infuriates us even more. Turns out, Congress leader Pankaj Punia is one of the many who have been found guilty of such blatant and crass sexism. You see, he took to Twitter to mock PM Modi and along with him all of womanhood. He wrote, “Santre (a term used to refer to RSS supporters), are you’ll asleep? just a reminder, don’t forget to wear the Re 1 sanitary pad someday”.

To add context here, this was after Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a heartfelt speech on 15th August as he mentioned, “The government has provided over 5 crore sanitary pads for poor women at Rs 1 each through 6,000 Jan Aushadhi stores.” A step that earned him a lot of appreciation and gratitude from women on one hand, and backlash from misogynist leaders like Pankaj Punia here, on the other. Who didn’t agree with women being shown compassion this once. This is so shameful.

Also Read : A Supreme Court Advocate, Kiruba Munusamy Shares How She Was Fired From Her Job For Taking A Period Leave. How De-sensitized Are We As A Society To Menstruation?

And it wasn’t just that he used offensive slang to refer to the RSS supporters by calling them ‘santre’ because their headquarters is in Nagpur which is famous for oranges. But also because his snide remark came at the expense of him sounding like an insensitive chauvinist that ended up insulting women for something as natural as a biological process. We understand that it’s a political feud but don’t these “leaders” see just how important PM Modi’s sanitary pad initiative is?

https://twitter.com/gulwant_devi/status/1296044333892804608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1296044333892804608%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2020%2F08%2Fcongress-leader-pankaj-punia-insults-women-mocks-the-re-1-sanitary-napkin-scheme-announced-by-pm-modi%2F

Netizens, who related to the disgust we feel, came at the Haryana leader with their two cents. They called him “disgusting” and a “mentally sick person”, which we feel, by all means, suited him well. Many even stated how his cheap statement would probably earn him applause from his boss, Priyanka Gandhi, while the rest of the netizens decided to only laud him with bitter comments that reflected on his cheap mentality.

It is, in fact, people like him that promote the taboos around menstruation and pull back any progress that is made in the direction of women empowerment. Guess he now has a reality check as to who needs to wear what, because, from the looks of it, he might be the one losing blood and sweat over his disturbing remark.

Also Read : #Trending : Zomato To Now Give Its Female Employees 10 Extra Period Leaves A Year. Finally, A Step Towards De-Stigmatising Menstruation!

Sadhika Sehgal

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