Arvind Kejriwal attacks Mahesh Sharma over 'skirt' remarks

NEW DELHI: Taking a dig at Union minister Mahesh Sharma over his "skirt" remarks, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said women had greater freedom to wear clothes of their choice during Vedic times as compared to "Modi times".

"Women had greater freedom to wear clothes of their choice in Vedic times than they have in Modi times," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

The Culture Minister had stoked controversy after suggesting that women tourists should not wear skirts in India.

"For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts... Indian culture is different from the western (culture)," he had told reporters in Agra yesterday.

He had also said that a "welcome card" was being provided to tourists visiting India and the "do's and dont's" on the card advise women not to roam alone at night and not to wear skirts.

The comments also did not go down well with Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal who asked Sharma to focus on governance than clothes of women. She also hit out at drawing parallels between rape and the attire of a woman.

"Rape of 2 year is also due to wearing skirts? Improve law and order, pl stop telling women what to wear or not wear. Can't believe politicians continue to equate rape with wearing skirt. So easy to shirk responsibility and blame a women's attire for rape," she said in a series of tweets.

"Pl improve governance. No correlation in wearing skirt n rape. You hv put onus of rape on the girl which is pathetic," Maliwal added.