Hyderabad: Union Minister and BJP MP Kishan Reddy has strongly condemned the incident where foreign delegates were made to have their feet washed by Telangana women during the Miss World pageant. He has accused the Telangana government of compromising the state’s self-respect and the dignity of its women.
Kishan Reddy questioned whether the Telangana government was treating the foreign delegates by making the local women wash their feet. He issued a press statement on Thursday regarding this matter. “Instead of enhancing the self-respect of Telangana before the world, the Congress government has compromised our self-esteem,” he said.
The incident happened when the delegates of the 72nd Miss World pageant were participating in the cultural and spiritual tour, and visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ramappa Temple. The Telangana government’s act of making the foreign delegates have their feet washed by Telangana women, including Dalit and tribal women, is a testament to the government’s arrogance, Kishan Reddy said.
Describing it as the “most severe insult” to the women of Telangana, he said, “It is a disgrace to have the women of Telangana, the land of Queen Rudrama Devi, a symbol of women’s empowerment and courage, humiliated on the historic premises of Ramappa Temple.” Kishan Reddy demanded that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy apologize unconditionally to the women of Telangana.
The BJP leader criticized the Congress party’s culture of making Indians kowtow before foreigners. He said the party’s history is to compromise the self-respect of Indians in front of foreigners, and Rahul Gandhi made the Indian women’s self-esteem suffer to appease the Congress party leaders in Delhi. Kishan Reddy stated that while the principle of “Atithi Devo Bhava” (the guest is god) is followed, it is unacceptable to diminish the self-respect of women in the process of honoring the guests. He argued that the Telangana government should have enhanced the dignity of the state before the foreign delegates instead of lowering it.
