Sell your wife if you don’t have money to build toilet: Bihar DM

Moneycontrol News,

The district magistrate of Bihar’s Aurangabad Kanwal Tanuj created a controversy when he apparently told villagers that if they don’t have money to build toilet at home, they should sell their wives.

The DM had gone to a village in a bid to promote Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India movement), where he tried to link toilet with the dignity of women. "Save the dignity of your women if you can. How poor are you? Raise your hands and tell me if the value of your wife is lower than Rs 12,000. Listen to me first. Don't raise your hands."

After that Kanwal Tanuj added, "Which man would say that take the dignity of my wife and give me Rs 12,000? Is there anyone like that?"

#WATCH Aurangabad's DM Kanwal Tanuj says, " go sell your wife" to a person while addressing a public gathering on cleanliness (22.07) #Bihar pic.twitter.com/kqkQpVdC1q

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 23, 2017

While one of the villagers from the audience said that he did not have enough money to build a toilet at home. “Sir, I don’t have the money to build a toilet,” the man said. Tanuj responded by saying, “I will talk to you. If that is the case then go and sell your wife. If this is the mentality you have then go and sell your wife. So many people talk about advance payment, they get advance and then spend it on useless things.”

Bihar government is providing assistance of Rs 12,000 to all those Above Poverty Line (APL) families under Lohia Swach Bihar Abhiyan scheme for construction of toilets as part of its target to make the state open defecation-free by 2019.