Tirath Singh Rawat, the newly designated Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, received backlash after saying that women wearing ripped jeans set a “poor example.”
To condemn Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s controversial comments, women are flooding Twitter with images of themselves brandishing ripped jeans with the hashtag #RippedJeans.
The CM made an inflammatory comment while speaking at a workshop for children dealing with drug abuse in the state. Tirath Singh described the outfit of a woman who sat next to him on a flight in great detail. He said the woman was an NGO worker who was traveling with her children. “You run an NGO, wear ripped-at-the-knees jeans, walk about in society, children are with you, what morals can you teach?” he asked.
“What kind of message are we sending to society, to our children, if this kind of woman goes out into society to help people and fix their problems?” The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand said.
He shared his annoyance with “Kaynchi se sanskaar (culture by scissors) – revealing bare knees, wearing ripped jeans, and looking like rich kids – these are the ideals that are being offered now,” she said. If not at home, where is this coming from?”
The remarks caused an outpouring of criticism on social media almost immediately. Sanjay Jha, the Congress leader, was one of the first to respond. “Wearing “#rippedjeans” seems to be undermining our society. It refers to drug and alcohol addiction. There’s even a social collapse. According to Uttarakhand Chief Minister, women should strictly stop this sacrilege against our pristine customs “On Wednesday, he tweeted while wearing ripped jeans in a snap.
Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote: “The country’s ‘sanskriti’ & ‘sanskaar’ are impacted by men who sit and judge women and their choices.”.
Kangana Ranaut, who called out modern-day achievers for wearing “torn American jeans and rags” earlier this month, received similar criticism. By digging up old pictures, a part of the Internet was swift to tell her that she, too, was guilty of wearing ripped denim.
