“I apologise if people are upset, but my comments were taken out of context,” Jaiswal, also a Congress Lok Sabha member, told media.
He was reacting to criticism of his comments made during a poetry meet at KK Girls College in Kanpur on Sunday night when he had likened “the joy of a new victory to a new marriage” and said “as the years go by, the celebrations like in a marriage become old”.
Comparing India’s Sunday win over Pakistan at the World T20 to a marriage, Mr Jaiswal had said in Hindi: “Nayi nayi jeet aur nayi nayi shaadi, iska apna alag mahatva hota hai… jaise jaise samay beetega..jeet ki yaadein purani hoti jayegi; jaise jaise samay beet ta hai, patni purani hoti chali jati hai, vo maza nahi rehta hai.” Loosely translated, he said that like a new victory, a new marriage has its own importance, but as time passes, like the victory, a wife lose her charm.
Women groups are up in arms over Jaiswal’s controversial comments with the National Commission for Women saying that the minister must apologise for his remarks. Taking cognisance of it, the Congress has also asked the Union Coal Minister to clarify his comments.
Criticising Jaiswal over his comments, NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma said, “The statement is very unfortunate. We will write a letter to Prime Minister and high command…we demand his apology.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party also took the opportunity to attack the Congress leader. BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman slammed Jaiswal saying, “We can judge the standard of Congress on the basis of these utterances, how low can they go.”
There have been protests by women’s groups and BJP ctivists against Mr Jaiswal in his constituency Kanpur as well.