Bihar assembly adjourned over BJP leader Dhankar’s remark

Patna, 7 July-2014(IANS): The Bihar assembly was on Monday adjourned till noon over BJP leader OP Dhankar’s remark that his party would get girls from Bihar to ensure that men in Haryana get married. The JD-U and RJD legislators disrupted the proceedings and demanded his arrest.

Bihar assembly adjourned over BJP leader Dhankar’s remark

BJP Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankar

Expressing their anger, the legislators of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) staged demonstration against Dhankar’s remark at the gate of the assembly and later created a ruckus in the house.

The JD-U and RJD legislators shouted slogans and demanded Dhankar’s arrest for his statement.

On Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha national president Dhankar allegedly said the party would get girls from Bihar to ensure that men in Haryana can get married. He made the remark during a meeting of party workers in Haryana.

“Dhankar has insulted daughters of Bihar but it is unfortunate that the BJP leaders are defending him over his remark. We will not sit silent till he gets arrested,” said RJD legislator Bhai Dinesh.

Earlier, RJD chief Lalu Prasad condemned Dhankar’s statement and threatened to chop off his ear for insulting Bihar.

All political parties have asked the BJP to take strict action against Dhankar and offer unconditional apology to the girls and women in Bihar.

Haryana is known for its skewed sex ratio.

According to the 2011 census, sex ratio in Haryana stood at 879 girls to 1,000 boys, with lowest reported from Gurgaon at 854, followed by Sonepat (856) and Jhajjar (862).

Two days after BJP Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankar was caught on a wrong foot over his comments on promising Bihari wives for youths in Haryana, a state that has skewed sex ratio, he, on Sunday, sought to defuse the controversy by dubbing his comments an attempt to solve the issue of unmarried youths with a right intension.

Dhankar stated this during second day of his ‘cycle yatra’ in Jhajjar on Sunday. Issuing a clarification, Dhankar said he was not against inter-caste and inter-state marriage but it should be within the legal framework and with social sanctity.

While attending a farmers’ meet at Narwana of Jind district on Friday, Dhankar had exhorted public to establish the BJP government in the state to help the army of unmarried youths in each village get brides.

He said during his tour to different villages, villagers informed him that youths were forced to bring brides from Bihar and other states by paying a huge sum of money. He had said senior BJP leader from Bihar, Sushil Modi was his friend and he would make efforts to set up a mechanism so that unmarried youths of Haryana can get brides without being forced to indulge in bringing bad name to the institution of marriage.

He said bringing brides from Bihar by “buying them” comes under human trafficking and it should be stopped as such brides do not get respect in grooms’ families. “If it was done by keeping legal and social norms in mind it would be serve the purpose.” He also urged the state government to make efforts to work seriously on improving the child sex ratio in the state.