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UN award adds to Raje's ramp row
Published on Wed, Apr 25, 2007 at 08:42, Updated on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 07:32 in India section
Tags: Vasundhara Raje, Ramp Controversy , Jaipur
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Jaipur: Just months ago Rajasthan's Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje made news when she walked the ramp in Bangalore.
Now the UN is awarding her with 'Women Together award 2007' for just that, to promote the weavers.
But with the Congress calling the award an insult to injury for Rajasthan, the ramp controversy has only deepened.
Not for her the starched-boring Khadi look, she would rather walk down the ramp wearing the more glamorous avatar of the same material.
Not stereotypical and it's for taking the tangent that Raje usually makes news for – from the rounds of Table tennis diplomacy at the Chief Minister's residence, Yoga sessions with her MLAs, revamping her workplace with latest luxuries money can buy, unwinding over movies with her legislators to walking the ramp.
But after all the flak on her controversial walk down the ramp, the UN is now awarding her for promoting handlooms like Kota Doria and Khadi made by self-help groups.
“I'm delighted to see that people internationally have accepted and applauded the work that's been done in the state which hasn't been applauded by the state,” said Raje.
The BJP has lost no time in cashing in on the award hoping to dilute the controversy that erupted after Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje walked the ramp.
But dismissive of the award itself the Congress says an award for walking the ramp is the last thing the Chief Minister of the state should accept.
The Opposition says when the people of Rajasthan were battling hunger and disease, the Chief Minister was walking the ramp in Bangalore.
Not just that months later she did it again at a Khadi show in Jaipur and now by accepting an award for that she will only add insult to injury.
“It's an award for walking the ramp, it should go to models or artists. The Chief Minister has no business walking the ramp. She should go down the streets of Rajasthan's villages,” said Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President B D Kalla.
But Raje is all set to receive the award in New York on May 14.
“We've come out of the pond and we're looking beyond it and the world is now our village and the sooner we understand it the better it is and we've to also understand that's one of the reasons that Rajasthan remained what they call a sick state till three years back. It's the attitude people have to change or they'll remain the way they are,” said Raje.
Attitude seems to be the operative word here and Raje will surely wears that on her trip to the US.
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