mid-day editorial: Don't skirt the issue of women's safety

It has been a while since our politicos put their foot in their mouths, and, frankly, we were getting antsy. The wait seems to have paid off though and Twitterati, which is often ‘hitterati' and ‘witterati', has gone into overdrive reacting to Union Minister Mahesh Sharma's latest advice on women's safety. On being asked about safety measures that foreign tourists in Agra should keep in mind, Sharma said, "Don't wear skirts" - and this was his "straightforward" advice. He added that tou­rists are given "a card with dos and don'ts" when they arrive here, which has "instructions like if they are in small areas, they should not roam around alone at night or wear skirts".

Sharma, however, qualified his statement by adding he was not advising on "what women should wear". While these words may have redeemed him to a miniscule extent, one certainly did not expect such a response on tourist safety. The minister should have spoken about security measures in place to prevent untoward incidents and mentioned emergency helpline numbers. We needed a note of reassurance from the Minister, not these words which make us a laughing stock again among tourists.

Today, India is grappling with an image problem because of the increasing number of sexual molestation cases in the country. These cases of violence provoked PM Narendra Modi to make a statement that rapes had shamed the nation, in his first Independence Day address. Now, we cannot go back to the age-old, specious line that women should be careful of what they wear or what time they travel "to be safe".

But instead of speaking about definite measures to keep tourists safe, Sharma's Stone Age-inspired statement is asking women not to wear skirts. Sometimes, silence can truly be golden.