On Thursday, as Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was struggling to impose order in the Assembly, senior Congress leader KR Ramesh Kumar proffered some advice.
“There’s a saying... when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That’s exactly the position into which you are," said Kumar, a former Speaker.
The statement provoked a hearty laugh from Kageri. None in the Assembly raised an objection.
Kumar’s remarks came when Kageri lamented that he was unable to bring the Assembly under control as MLAs continued to speak one after another on the recent spate of floods and crop losses.
Having tried, in vain, to end the spree of speeches, Kageri threw his hands up.
“You know, Ramesh Kumar, I now feel that we should just enjoy the situation. I have decided to give up on trying to control and streamline this situation... I’ll just let them talk,” Kageri said, prompting Kumar to come up with the rape remarks.
Kumar is no stranger to controversy. He was the Speaker in February 2019 when he had made a similar remark that drew the ire of women MLAs. Then, he was battling a bribery charge as claimed in an audio clip.
Kumar had said he felt like a "rape victim" and elaborated thus: "I got raped once. But like every rape victim, I am being made to feel like I was raped multiple times.”
Congress' KGF MLA Roopakala M, one of the 10 women in the 224-member Assembly, said she missed Kumar's statement although she was in the House.
"However, I personally don't support such remarks. Some of us women MLAs have, in the past too, requested both the ruling and opposition party leaders not to use this word in the Assembly," she said.
"A woman who faces sexual assault suffers trauma all her life. It is wrong to use this as an analogy to something else. This does not have my support," she said.
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