Goa Chief Minister Denies Sexist Remarks to Protesting Nurses

On a day the BJP faced anger over Union Minister Giriraj Singh's racist comments, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar denied a sexist remark attributed to him.

Mr Parsekar said he had never advised a group of nurses that they should not protest in the sun as it would darken their complexion.

"I have not made any such comments. What I said is being quoted wrongly," Mr Parsekar told PTI.

One of the nurses who had called on the Chief Minister on Tuesday to discuss a protest had accused the minister of making the shocking remarks.

"When we met the Chief Minister over our demands at Ponda, he said the girls should not sit on hunger strike in hot sun as their complexion will become dark and they will not find a good bridegroom," nurse Anusha Sawant had said.

Mr Parsekar said he knew the protesting nurse and had said that she "appeared different" after sitting in the sun. Nurses and other health workers attached to a private ambulance service have been on a hunger strike for the past few days.

"I never spoke about the marriage proposals or any such thing. It was just a passing remark because I had seen that girl earlier and found a difference when I saw her again," the chief minister said.

He said some of the protesting nurses had recorded the conversation on their mobile phones.

"If anyone feels that I have made any such comments, they can check the recordings," he said.

Another BJP leader, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, has blundered into a massive controversy with his comments on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

"If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have accepted her leadership?" Mr Singh said on Tuesday in Bihar.