Now we can bring Kashmiri girls for marriage: CM Khattar

New Delhi, Aug 10: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar sparked a row on Friday, saying that after scrapping of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, girls from Kashmir can now be brought for marriage.

Speaking at Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme in Fatehabad, Khattar said with abrogation of Article 370, path is now clear to bring girls from Kashmir for marriage.

"Our minister O P Dhankhar used to say that he will bring 'bahu' (daughter in law) from Bihar. Nowadays people are saying that path to Kashmir has been cleared. Now we will bring girls from Kashmir," he said at an event, according to ANI. However, the tweet was later retracted by the news agency.

Notably, Dhankar in 2014 had said that he would bring brides from Bihar for youths of Haryana if they were unable to find a match in the state, which was infamous for its skewed sex ratio.

Recently, BJP MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar Vikram Singh Saini had made similar comments about Kashmiri women saying that the party workers were excited over the scrapping of Article 370 as it would now enable them to marry 'gori' (fair) Kashmiri girls.

Vikram Singh Saini said that Muslim party workers should be happy after the Centre's decisions as they "can now marry the white-skinned women of Kashmir".

A flood of misogynistic comments have been doing rounds, with many people expressing views on marrying Kashmiri women, since India on Monday revised Article 370 of Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.