BJP leader says Draupadi was world’s first feminist, Tweeps ask if Shikhandi was the first LGBT activist

Ram Madhav also said that Draupadi was "singularly responsible" for the Mahabharata war

By: Kanishk Singh |
December 18, 2017 11:34 am

‘Feminism’ was Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2017 owing to the women’s marches and the #MeToo campaign, but according to a BJP leader, the world’s first feminist was right here in India. BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday, December 17 said that Pandava queen Draupadi was the “first feminist in the world”.

At the one-day Indic Thoughts festival held in Panaji — Goa’s capital, Madhav said,

Draupadi was the first feminist in the world. She had five husbands; she won’t listen to any of the five. She only listened to (Lord) Krishna, who was a friend. But we never call her promiscuous.

Madhav said that Draupadi was “singularly responsible” for the Mahabharata war that led to the killing of 18 lakh people on the battlefield. He also said that the war resulted from Draupadi’s stubbornness.

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Tweeps had a field day trolling the former RSS member, with many asking whether being a feminist meant being able to marry five men at once.

Draupadi who was forced to marry 5 brothers is the world’s first feminist according to Mr Ram Madhav.Btw, who was the world’s 1st crackpot?

— PatralekhaChatterjee (@patralekha2011) December 17, 2017

And Ganesha was the first case of head transplant.

— u s kakodker (@uskakodker1) December 17, 2017

We have enough time to discuss this, media is more than ready for it. These things need to be settled before we think of jobs economy corruption in india.

— Sonic

And Dushasan was world’s first Nihalchand.

— Utkarsh (@Cowlogy) December 17, 2017

I always feel these so called think tank people in BJP are most shallow head and utmost idiots .What Draupadi epitomises , to understand this is beyond his comprehension

— chandan kumar (@chandan_jaihind) December 18, 2017

Babaji perhaps doesn’t know that feminism is not about “not listening” to anyone, its about equal rights for men & women. Moreover, Draupadi was forced to marry 5 brothers against her wish, to hell with feminism!

— Axomiya Non-Bhakt (@n_bhakt) December 18, 2017

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Ram Madhav was recently in the news when he said that the BJP would form a government in every state. In an interview with Al Jazeera two years ago, he claimed that RSS believed Pakistan and Bangladesh would merge with India to form Akhand Bharat. While replying to question on Kashmir, Madhav told the interviewer — Mehdi Hasan — to worry about “your ISIS”.