Gaur - the 'bulldozer' minister who went on to become CM
Bhopal: BJP veteran Babulal Gaur, who started his career as a trade unionist, went on to become a tall figure of the party in Madhya Pradesh, holding several key positions, including that of the chief minister, during his decades-long political career.
Gaur, 89, who died here on Wednesday morning after a prolonged illness, also courted controversies over his alleged sexist remarks against women.
In a long political stint, Gaur served as the state home minister and also held many other portfolios in the BJP- led governments in the state.
Gaur was in limelight in the early 1990s, when as the state urban development minister, he got the encroachments in the old city area of Bhopal razed with the help of bulldozers, despite strong protest by the Congress. The action earned him the tag of the 'bulldozer minister'.
He was respected both within BJP and by leaders of other parties. Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath got him airlifted to Delhi last month for his medical treatment and also visited him recently when he was hospitalized here.
The OBC leader was Madhya Pradesh CM from 2004 to 2005 and represented his Govindpura Assembly seat 10 times.
Gaur rose to prominence in the early 1990s, when he was the urban development minister in the state Cabinet headed by Sunderlal Patwa.
In 2016, he was dropped from the state cabinet by then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to old age. Gaur took this as a slight and often said he resigned as CM in 2005 to pave way for Chouhan, at the behest of party patriarch L K Advani.
Gaur courted controversies over his alleged sexist remarks against women.
In April 2016, he was caught on camera inappropriately touching a woman during an event in Bhopal. A video clip of Gaur, then state home minister, inappropriately touching the woman went viral. Gaur was seen touching the woman while ushering people into a low-floor bus which he flagged off.
Gaur had then told PTI, I only directed women workers to board the bus quickly as it was meant for them only. There is no truth in the clip as shown. Whatever I am saying is true.
In April 2012, Gaur blamed sexual harassment on short clothing worn by women, while in January 2013, he said: "Women in foreign countries wear jeans and T-shirts, dance with other men and even drink liquor, but that is their culture. It is good for them, but not for India, where only our traditions and culture are ok."
In June 2015, he said drinking is a fundamental right.
In January 2014, he said incidents of sexual violence were relatively lower in Tamil Nadu because women in the state visit temples regularly and wear full clothes.
In June 2014, Gaur described rape as a social crime, which depends on the man and the woman, saying sometimes its right, sometimes its wrong. He then said that it wasn't possible for governments to ensure that rape was not perpetrated. He also said, Unless the person wants, no one can dare touch her.
In May 2015, Gaur said at a convention that he had told a Russian woman that he could teach her how to remove a dhoti. This was purportedly in response to a question from her on how he wears a dhoti without a belt or zipper. In response, Gaur said, I told her I cant teach you how to wear it, but I can certainly teach you how to remove it, but that too later, not now.
In 2016, when asked to comment on a campaign by women activists for the right to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, he had said, "Leave it will be enough for them (women) even if they worship at home.
