New Delhi: Is the Lok Sabha a desirable workplace? Shashi Tharoor, a Congress Member of Parliament, hinted at this when he tagged a photo of six female Members of Parliament. The photograph was taken during the opening of Parliament's Winter Session. However, the image was slammed as being "sexist."
Supriya Sule, Preneet Kaur, Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan, and Jothimani along with Tharoor appeared in the photograph. While sharing the image on his official Twitter handle, Tharoor captioned it as, "Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work?”
Many people were outraged, including Rekha Sharma, the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, who reposted the tweet and wrote, "Stop objectifying women in Parliament." Others echoed this sentiment, accusing Tharoor of reducing "elected political figures to their appearances" and labelling his post "sexist."
Later, Tharoor stated that the photo — a selfie that appears to have been shot by Chakraborty — had been taken and posted at the request of the women MPs and that he was "sorry" that "some people are offended."
The 25-day Winter Session of Parliament, which began November 29, witnessed a tumultuous affair. The Farm Laws Repeal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha without holding any discussion or debate.