NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his "brides from Kashmir" remark. Terming Khattar's comments as despicable, Gandhi claimed that the BJP leader's remarks show what years of RSS training does to the mind of a "weak, insecure and pathetic man".


His reaction came after Khattar on Friday courted a controversy with his remarks that some people of Haryana are saying that they "can now get brides from Kashmir", apparently in a reference to the scrapping of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.

"Haryana CM, Khattar's comment on Kashmiri women is despicable and shows what years of RSS training does to the mind of a weak, insecure and pathetic man. Women are not assets to be owned by men," Gandhi said in a tweet.


Speaking at an event in Fatehabad, Khattar had said, "There can be problems if the number of girls is lesser than boys. Our (O P) Dhankarji had said that they (brides) will have to be brought from Bihar. Now some people say, Kashmir is open, they (brides) will be brought from there. But jokes apart, the question is if (sex) ratio is right, then there will be a right balance in society."

The comment has triggered widespread controversy.

Rahul was joined by the head of Congress' Women wing, Sushmita Deb who went to say that Khattar was mentally ill.

"Khattar is mentally ill, it is beyond my imagination that a Chief Minister can utter such words.

"Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah must fire Khattar from the post of Chief Minister," she added.

She said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government's ambitious 'Beti bachao, beti padhao' programme was launched from Haryana's Panipat.

Three days ago, Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar BJP MLA Vikram Saini had said that party workers were excited over the scrapping of Article 370 as it would now enable them to marry 'gori' (fair) Kashmiri girls.