International Women's Day: Union Minister Maneka Gandhi speaks to NDTV
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi's comment to NDTV that hostel curfews are good for preventing "hormonal outbursts" has gone viral and drawn a deluge of reactions on social media.
During the interview to mark "International Women's Day", the plain-speaking Minister for Women and Child Development also responded to questions on life as a woman politician in India. She approached the tricky subject of dealing with opposition within the government, with humour.
When NDTV asked her how she tackled the government not listening to her, Ms Gandhi quipped, "Oh, I burst into tears."
Seriously? The minister started laughing at the question. "No, no, of course not, it is a typical girl response."
On a serious note, she explains her "how to" rules for surviving a tough workplace - "In my life, I have found that a no is always a maybe. So I just go back, reformulate my strategy, and go back and keep doing it, and keep doing it, and keep doing it, till it happens. I don't back off."
A group of college students questioned what the government was doing to handle stalkers. The idea, she said, was to have more One Stop Crisis Centres for women. The Minister said there should be at least 11 such centres in the capital but the government has not agreed to her request despite her personally pushing for it.
Ms Gandhi said she had the funds, but the government wasn't accepting her demand because these centres would just get flooded.