Lok Sabha elections 2019: Jaya Prada joined the BJP and will contest from Rampur constituency
Highlights
- Jaya Prada found herself at the receiving end of a sexist comment
- Rampur's evenings will turn colourful in this election season: Firoz Khan
- His misogynistic comment was panned on social media as hugely demeaning
A Samajwadi Party leader in Uttar Pradesh has stepped on a landmine with his sexist comment against his former party colleague and actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who joined the BJP earlier this week. Jaya Prada will contest from Rampur constituency, where the party headed by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has fielded Azam Khan, another Samajwadi leader not new to controversial remarks.
On Thursday, Jaya Prada found herself at the receiving end of a sexist comment by Firoz Khan, a Samajwadi leader in Sambhal district.
"Rampur ki shaamein rangeen ho jaayengi ab jab chunavi mahual chalega (Rampur's evenings will turn colourful in this election season)," Mr Khan was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
His misogynistic comment was panned by people on social media as extremely demeaning.
Jaya Prada has also had a bitter and much publicised feud with Azam Khan, who she has accused of harassing her.
Samajwadi Party leader Firoz Khan's sexist comments against Jaya Prada were criticised by people on social media
Firoz Khan did not stop at it. In an apparent reference to another BJP leader, Sanghamitra Maurya, who at a public rally told party workers not to be intimidated by goons as she will protect them by becoming a bigger "gundi", Firoz Khan had a caustic observation: "Ab koi apne ko gundi batade koi naachne ka kaam kare, woh unka apna pesha hai (some call herself a goon, some are into dancing, it's their money anyway)".
Sanghamitra Maurya is the daughter of Uttar Pradesh legislator SP Maurya.
Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in the Lok Sabha - in 2004 and 2009 - as a member of Akhilesh Yadav's party, whose core voters include Muslims. The actor-turned-politician joined politics in 1994 as a member of the Telugu Desam Party, which was headed by NT Rama Rao. But she left following differences with Chandrababu Naidu and joined the Samajwadi Party.
She and her associate Amar Singh were expelled from the party in 2010. She contested the 2014 national elections from Bijnor seat on Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket, but lost.
On joining the BJP, she said, "For the first time I have got entry into a national party. I feel very good because I am working under a leader, who is brave, who thinks of the nation's security and Bharat Mata's prestige. He replies to those who denigrate mother India."