Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran has hit headlines for his remarks aimed at victims of rape at a protest meeting in Thiruvananthapuram. He tendered his apology soon after.

He said, “Every day when she wakes up, she claims she was raped. A woman who says she was raped across the State, she’s dressed up and made to stand behind the curtain. She keeps asking when she should come out. Chief Minister, your game will not work here. This blackmail politics will not work here. The people of Kerala can understand it. As you (CM) drown and die, if you thought you can bring a prostitute and make her cook stories, Kerala is tired of hearing it…we can understand if a woman says she was raped once. Any woman with self-respect will either die or prevent being raped again. But, she keeps crying she was raped again and again all over the state. Senior police officers told me that you are planning to play politics by keeping such a woman in front,” he said.

Ramachandran said this at an agitation launched State-wide by the Congress-led UDF against alleged corrupt practices of the LDF government.

State Women and Child Development Minister KK Shailaja, slammed Ramachandran for his remarks, calling them ‘dangerous’ and ‘inappropriate’.

As many others too hit out at him for his comments, Ramachandran expressed regret for his remarks when reporters relayed the sexist tone of his speech.

“If these remarks were characterised as being aimed at anyone in particular, I express my regret. If these remarks were misrepresented as anti-women in certain quarters, it is not right. I said it only to prove the depths to which this (LDF) government has fallen,” he said.