Under fire for remark on widows, Hema Malini fights back

NEW DELHI: BJP Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini, during a visit to her constituency Mathura, said Vrindavan, a holy town associated with Lord Krishna and also home to Hindu widows, should not be crowded by destitute women from other states like West Bengal and Bihar. She said there are already 40,000 widows in Vrindavan and there was no room to accommodate more. Calling Hema’s comment "insensitive", NGOs working for widows said it was heart-breaking for women who had hopes from the actor-turned-politician.
READ ALSO: Widows from other states should not crowd Mathura: Hema Malini
"This is a very insensitive statement.Why are widows targeted? What is the dignity and status of a widow? We are not going to tolerate this," said Mohini Giri, chairperson of NGO Guild of Service, which runs Amar Bari ashram in Vrindavan.
"Tomorrow someone will say you are also widow and you are from Andhra, so go back to your state. What will I do then? Is this what we expect in our country? My widows are crying. They had hopes from Hema who is not able to understand their condition despite being a woman," the social activist said.
But, the actress-turned-politician defended her statement in tweets, saying no one heard her actual interview. "I haven’t said anything I should be ashamed of. I stand by my statement that they should be allowed to live with dignity. Sad state for a country once known for the respect shown to women. This is what I was trying to point out," she tweeted.
"It is traumatic to see these poor widows begging on the streets. Have all of you ever witnessed their plight? Of course I intend doing what I can to improve their condition but Vrindavan has space limitation. State govt too should contribute," Hema added.
The actress said she had done nothing wrong by saying that "sons and daughters cannot discard their duty and cannot bundle them onto a train and forget about them".
Hema said, "For no fault of theirs, they are thrown on the streets & compelled to beg to survive. Is this fair? Do you think these old women deserve this fate? Also most are from West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. My request was to these people to have a more humane approach and look after these poor widows properly."
Awareness must be created in states from where these widows arrive. Most of these women are "abandoned and put on trains to Vrindavan without any money", Hema said, adding most of them find jobs as maids or turn to begging.
"Younger ones are also exploited and then abandoned to their fate. Out of the 5,000, only 1,500 have a proper roof over their heads. The rest are on the streets, destitute and desperate. Of course, we are all Indians first, and have a duty towards the old and infirm in our country," Hema tweeted.