Congress women leaders lash out at Ramdev over Dalit remark

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Three women leaders of the Congress Saturday hit out at yoga guru Baba Ramdev over his remarks on party vice president Rahul Gandhi on dining with the Dalit community.

Kumari Selja, former union minister for social justice and empowerment, came down heavily on Ramdev for saying that Rahul Gandhi's meetings with Dalits at their homes were akin to a picnic or a honeymoon.

"These are extremely objectionable comments and we strongly condemn them. The remarks about Dalits and women show his (Ramdev's) mentality.

"He claims to be a yoga guru. Does our culture teach him to talk this way about Dalits? Are Dalit women commodities to be used?" Selja said at a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.

"As a Dalit and a woman, I take utmost umbrage at his statement," she said.

Selja demanded that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi clarify if he supports Ramdev's statement, and should also apologise for it.

Krishna Tirath, union minister for women and child development, said: "Women of this country feel there is a difference between the way Baba Ramdev dresses and the way he talks. They denounce his statements."

Shobha Ozha, president of the women's wing of the Congress, termed Ramdev's remark symptomatic of his "dirty and debased thought process".

Calling Ramdev one of the "Navratan" (nine jewels) of Modi's team, she targeted the Gujarat chief minister over the snooping of a woman in his state.

Citing a report by a news magazine, she said that if Modi's wife Jashodaben was indeed living in an ashram owned by Ramdev, it was cause for worry.