At a time when his father, President Pranab Mukherjee, was trying to find a solution to women’s safety and trying to address the slightly violent streak the anti-rape demonstrations had taken over the weekend, his Member of Parliament son Abhijit Mukherjee tried to comprehend the nature of protests taking place in the capital.

“This is almost like the Pink Revolution,” he told Bangla news channel ABP Ananda. He didn’t stop at that: “These women who are protesting have no contact with ground reality.”

If you thought that’s where he would wind up, you were of course wrong. So he went on: “These pretty women, dented and painted, who come for protests are not students. I have seen them speak on television; usually women of this age are not students.”

Was it the unusual chill, I wondered. Or was Mukherjee high on ideas, I wondered, a second time in as many seconds, as the Jangipur MP thundered, “Students who go to discotheques think it is a fashion statement to hold candles and protest.”

Mr Mukherjee, I hope you have studied analytical reasoning. What I drew from your remarks is simple logic, and my thoughts parentheses (or should it have been the other way round? But then, we digress). Here we go:

* Women who do not have contact with ground reality cannot protest. (And there! I thought democracy offered that right to everyone, even those you see walking on air.)

* “Pretty women” (your words, not mine) cannot protest. (The deduction, by the way, is equally insensitive: that all protesters are unattractive!)

* Women who are “dented and painted” cannot be students. (Frustrated at a car mechanic’s, were you, before talking to the channel?)

* Those protesting are not students. (Did the protesters ever make that claim?)

* Only students can take part in protests. (Tell that to your fellow MPs, will you sir?)

* Mothers/sisters/others do not have the right to protest. (Check with your party president, please.)

* Women who have crossed a certain age cannot be students. (I have seen several student leaders speak on this issue on television; we must have been watching different channels, then!)

* Students do not go to discotheques. (They might, or might not, but they will certainly not seek your go-ahead.)

* Those who go to discotheques cannot protest. (Are you advocating this class war in the Marxian or Martian sense?)

* Students who hold a candle-light vigil or who protest are just making a fashion statement. (Right; perhaps we should have a fashion week at India Gate when people protest against such half-baked, semi-thought-out and zero-judicious remarks.)

Lastly, Mr Mukherjee, as a woman I shall part with an observation, which I am sure many would agree as well: At last we look pretty. We do not sit pretty.

So get up on your feet, Mr Mukherjee, and do something that retracts the statement instead of issuing a lame “unconditional apology” with conditions attached: “There was a certain context and background when I made this statement. I do not want to explain as it would appear I am trying to justify myself. If my statement had hurt anybody’s sentiment I am seeking an unconditional apology.”