As Mahesh Sharma Makes His 'No Skirts' Remark, a Look at His Earlier Controversies

Union minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma on Sunday advised foreign women travelling to India to not wear skirts.

Talking about what the government was doing for tourist safety at popular destinations, NDTV quoted Sharma as saying, “When tourists arrive at the airport, they are being given a welcome kit which has a card with dos and don’ts… it has instructions like if they are in small areas, they should not roam around alone at night or wear skirts…they should take a picture of the car they are travelling in and send it to their friend.”

After coming under fire for his comments about women tourists’s clothes on social media and otherwise, Sharma backtracked. His statement was only meant in the context of religious places, he said on Monday. “All I said was that if they enter a temple they should take off their shoes and cover their heads if they are entering a Gurudwara, that’s all,” he told ANI.

He added that his comment was not a judgment on what people should or should not wear and India was known for its diverse culture.

This isn’t the first time the BJP leader has made news for his controversial statements. Here are some of his previous comments that made headlines.

September 2015 was a particularly big month for the minister.