#RespectWomen: When Tirath Singh Rawat was ripped over 'ripped jeans' remarks in 2021

New Delhi: A major controversy erupted on Wednesday when Haryana Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala apparently made "sexist" comments against Bharatiya Janata Party's Mathura MP Hema Malini by insinuating that the veteran actress was elected to "lick". In a similar situation, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat sparked a major row when he remarked that women wearing "ripped jeans" can't provide to right kind of culture. Tirath Singh, who was the Uttarakhand CM for little over three months, was invited to a workshop organised by by the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Dehradun on March 16, 2021, when he expressed 'shock' at seeing a woman running an NGO wearing ripped jeans and said that such women will not be able to impart cultural values upon children. Actress Gul Panag posted a picture of herself with her kid wearing ripped jeans and captioned: "#RippedJeansTwitter" Tirath Singh's 'apology' The controversy intensified so much that Tirath Singh's wife Rashmi had to come to his defence and say that it is on the onus of the woman to preserve the culture. One year after the remarks, when he was no longer CM, Tirath Singh said his views on wearing ripped jeans "remained unchanged" and it is not part of India's culture.