Media bodies, on Friday, said they expect the BJP to initiate strict disciplinary action against BJP leader S. Ve. Shekhar over his remarks about women journalists.
The Indian Women's Press Corps, Press Club of India, Federation of Press Clubs of India, and Press Association, in a joint statement, condemned "in strongest terms the disparaging, derogatory and defamatory remarks” made by the saffron party leader on social media and said these regressive remarks reflect "a certain conservative mindset and a deep-rooted patriarchal bias towards all women, especially working women".
The sexist post shared by Shekar and titled “Madurai university, governor and the virgin vheeks of a girl” claimed that the journalist, Lakshmi Subramanian, had made accusation against the governor with sole motive to defame the BJP government at the Centre.
In an apparent dig at THE WEEK reporter's tweet that she washed her face several times after the governor touched her cheek, the post said: “The governor should wash his hands with phenyle for touching her.”
The post allegedly written by one Thirumalai S. went on to make shocking and utterly disparaging comments on women and claimed that more sexual abuses happen in media houses than in universities. A woman cannot become a reporter or news reader without sleeping with bigwigs, it said.
These media bodies said the remarks are totally unacceptable to the journalist community, and demanded that they be withdrawn and an unconditional apology be tendered by Shekhar. They viewed with serious concern the sustained trolling of THE WEEK journalist Lakshmi Subramanian, and the threats issued to her following her complaint regarding the Tamil Nadu governor's objectionable conduct.
Women journalists, like all working women, have had to struggle hard to establish themselves in a male dominated industry. In addition, they also shoulder the double burden and dual responsibility of the home-front and workplace, the media bodies said.