'Ban bikinis, short skirts and pubs' remark: Goa chief minister seeks explanation

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday asked minister Sudin Dhavalikar to explain his remark on women should not wear bikinis in beaches or short skirts to pubs.

According to reports, Parrikar called the minister last night to ask why he made those comments.

Earlier, the minister had said "young girls going to pubs in short dresses is against our culture", backing controversial activist Pramod Muthalik, who is notorious for trying to impose medieval-style diktats against "cultural invasion."

Read: Women should not wear bikinis on public beaches for their own safety: Goa Minister

"Scantily dressed girls visiting pubs project wrong culture and this should be stopped. It does not fit in our culture. What will happen to our Goan culture, if we allow this?" said Sudin Dhavalikar, Goa's Public Works Department minister and a leader of BJP ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. He also added, "Women should not wear bikinis on public beaches for their own safety."

Dhavalikar, 57, added, "Whatever Muthalik is saying is not wrong. He is not speaking against any religion. Everyone has a right to speak about his own religion."

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Pramod Muthalik's Sri Ram Sene is best known for its assault on women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009. Women were dragged by their hair, slapped and manhandled by Sri Ram Sene activists, who accused them of "loose morals."