"For Better Marriages...": Maharashtra Home Minister's Sexist Comment

A video has emerged of a top Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party leader making a sexist comment amid a similar controversy involving a rival BJP leader.

Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, whose NCP is a member of the ruling alliance in the state, is seen addressing supporters at a public event when he made the sexist comment.

"For better marriages and to avoid domestic violence, men should stay outside, and women should do housework," Mr Patil is heard saying in Marathi in the video, which has been shared widely on social media.

Mr Patil now finds himself firmly in the middle of the sexist comment controversy along with his rival and Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil.

Targeting NCP leader Supriya Sule, the state BJP chief during a protest had told her, "If you don't understand politics, go home and cook."

Chandrakant Patil made the sexist comment as the two parties sparred over reservations for Other Backward Classes, or OBC, in Maharashtra.

Tweeting the video involving Dilip Walse Patil of the NCP, Andhra Pradesh BJP leader Vishnu Vardhan Reddy tagged and took a swipe at Priyanka Chaturvedi, a colleague of the Maharashtra Home Minister: "...Now waiting for you to take credit of his statement."

Dilip Walse Patil hasn't yet responded to the criticism over the video.

The BJP's Chandrakant Patil, facing a backlash, however, attempted damage control today saying he meant Ms Sule should "go to the villages and try to understand them" in politics.

"It is in my nature to respect women. What I meant was she should learn to live in rural areas where there are sayings like this. I respect Supriya-tai and we talk often," the BJP leader said.

The NCP has slammed the comments, even asking Chandrakant Patil to "learn making chapattis so he can help his wife at home".

"He has no right to speak like that. He has no right to speak that way about my sister," said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Ms Sule's cousin.