No skirts please, Indian Minister advises foreign tourists

After controversially suggesting that foreigners visiting India should avoid wearing skirts or going out alone at night, Union Minister of the country Mahesh Sharma clarified on Monday that he was speaking in the context of religious places, and that he spoke out of ‘concern’.

‘I did not comment on what women should wear or not, I was just speaking in the context of religious places,’ Mr Sharma, the Minister of State for Culture, said.

‘Also if I ask women tourists to be a bit careful while moving around at night then what is wrong in it? I am simply concerned,’ he added.

On Sunday, the minister was responding to questions on the government’s steps for tourist safety in popular destinations like Agra when he commented on the list of dose and don’ts for visitors to India.

‘When tourists arrive at the airport, they are being given a welcome kit which has a card with dos and don’ts... it has instructions like if they are in small areas, they should not roam around alone at night or wear skirts...they should take a picture of the car they are travelling in and send it to their friend’,’ he told reporters.

India, the minister said, is a ‘cultural country’ and ‘we have a different dress code for temples. Kindly keep that in mind while dressing up.’

As reporters latched on to his ‘no skirt’ comment and questioned whether he was recommending a dress code, the 55-year-old minister quickly clarified: ‘We are not telling them what to wear and what not to wear. We are only saying that when they go out at night, they should be careful. We have no right to try and change anyone`s clothes or way of thinking.’

Despite the clarification, Mr Sharma didn’t escape the expected storm on Twitter, where he was trending on Monday morning.

Kapil Mishra, a minister of Delhi’s AAP government, tweeted that he would write to Mr Sharma ‘requesting him not to insult nation by such advisories.’