New Delhi: After the outcry generated by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s comments on Diana Hayden, the model and actress spoke to News18, to give her reaction to the chief minister’s statements.
“I am fighting this brown skin bias since my childhood. And I have succeeded. People should be proud of my achievement, rather than belittling it. I am a proud brown-skinned Indian. I am hurt. The minister is in a prominent position and he should be careful about what he says,” Hayden said exclusively to News18. After his “Internet in the Mahabharata era” remark, Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday claimed that the international beauty pageants were a farce and questioned the rationale behind crowning Diana Hayden ‘Miss World’ 21 years ago.
The BJP leader, however, was all praise for Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World crown in 1994, saying she “represents the Indian women” in the true sense. “Indian women did not use cosmetics in the old times. Indians did not use shampoo, they washed their hair with methi water and bathed with mud. These beauty pageant organisers are international marketing mafia, who spotted a huge market in the country. Today, there is a beauty parlour in every corner of the country,” he said
Deb’s comments came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the BJP leaders to steer clear of controversies and not offer “masala” to the media by making irresponsible statements. The Tripura chief minister also claimed that the international beauty contests were a farce as the results were all predetermined.
“Why are there no more beauty pageant winners from India? They (the jury) have captured the market in the country and have gone elsewhere,” he claimed. Earlier this month, Deb had claimed that Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata.