Rajasthan
Assembly: Min Issues Clarification On His Statement About War Widows | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: The issue of demands made by the three Pulwama war widows rocked the state Assembly once again on Thursday. During the zero hour, parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal issued a clarification, saying that his March 13 statement on the war widows was misinterpreted and misused.
Dhariwal said he had not spoken anything about Manju Jat, a martyr’s widow, except that her younger brother-in-law was already married and had two children, which is a fact.
The minister said his reference to ‘Nata’ (a form of remarriage practised in certain communities) was about Sundari Devi, another martyr’s widow, who has herself accepted that she was remarried to her younger brother-in-law, Vikram Singh, for three years and has had two children from him (a son and a daughter). She already had two daughters from her earlier marriage, he added.
“I checked the video recordings of the Assembly and also the proceedings of the House. Nowhere have I mentioned Nata about Manju Jat,” claimed Dhariwal.
To this, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said, “We have heard the minister’s clarification, and now he has brought up the matter of war widow Sundari Devi. We are not sitting in this House to discuss anyone’s personal life. You are the same minister who said rapes are happening in the state as Rajasthan is a state of men.” Rathore alleged that the minister had insulted the war widows and said no clarification would work.
BJP lawmakers rushed to the well of the House, shouting slogans against the minister and then staged a walkout in protest.
The Congress MLA from Osian, Divya Maderna, had raised the issue on Wednesday, alleging that Dhariwal had insulted the war widows by speaking about Nata, which was not part of the government’s original statement, while she supported the government’s stand that only the wife and children of the martyrs should be given jobs, not his relatives as the widows are demanding.
Dhariwal said he had not spoken anything about Manju Jat, a martyr’s widow, except that her younger brother-in-law was already married and had two children, which is a fact.
The minister said his reference to ‘Nata’ (a form of remarriage practised in certain communities) was about Sundari Devi, another martyr’s widow, who has herself accepted that she was remarried to her younger brother-in-law, Vikram Singh, for three years and has had two children from him (a son and a daughter). She already had two daughters from her earlier marriage, he added.
“I checked the video recordings of the Assembly and also the proceedings of the House. Nowhere have I mentioned Nata about Manju Jat,” claimed Dhariwal.
To this, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said, “We have heard the minister’s clarification, and now he has brought up the matter of war widow Sundari Devi. We are not sitting in this House to discuss anyone’s personal life. You are the same minister who said rapes are happening in the state as Rajasthan is a state of men.” Rathore alleged that the minister had insulted the war widows and said no clarification would work.
BJP lawmakers rushed to the well of the House, shouting slogans against the minister and then staged a walkout in protest.
The Congress MLA from Osian, Divya Maderna, had raised the issue on Wednesday, alleging that Dhariwal had insulted the war widows by speaking about Nata, which was not part of the government’s original statement, while she supported the government’s stand that only the wife and children of the martyrs should be given jobs, not his relatives as the widows are demanding.
