News 1997 comic strip from Archie Comics showing Betty taking online classes goes viral

1997 comic strip from Archie Comics showing Betty taking online classes goes viral

They may or not be the current fashion trend but ripped jeans are out of the cupboard and at the centrestage of debate on social media and beyond with celebrities, politicians and many â€˜nobodiesâ€™ too taking on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat for his comment on women who wear them.

From actor Gul Panag and writer-lyricist Varun Grover to Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and RJD leader Rabri Devi, and a host of others in between, everybo
dy had a view and social media platforms were flooded with one-liners, memes and photographs of jeans with artful rips, some narrow and others gaping.

The hashtag #rippedjeans was trending on Twitter for much of Wednesday and Thursday as well, following Rawat's controversial remark wondering what values women wearing ripped jeans impart to their children. Rawat, who was sworn in as chief minister on March 10, said at an event on Tuesday that youngsters today follow strange fashion trends due to a lack of values and consider themselves to be big shots after wearing jeans ripped at the knees. Women also follow such trends. Rawat then went on to describe the attire of a woman who sat next to him on a flight. He described her as wearing boots, jeans ripped at the knees, bangles in her hands and with two children travelling with her. He also said she runs an NGO, goes out in society and has two children and wondered what values she would give them.

The fashion trend of wearing frayed or shredded jeans has plenty of naysayers but Rawat's comment touched a chord even in those who make sure they never don them - some young and others old, women of course and many men as well.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said he was "shocked" by Rawat''s statement.

In a statement, Uttarakhand Congress chief Pritam Singh termed Rawat''s remarks "shameful" and demanded that he apologise to women.

State Congress spokesperson Garima Dasauni added that it doesn''t behove a chief minister to make a derogatory remark about someone''s sartorial choices and said such comments can hurt public sentiment.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed Rawat over his "distasteful" remarks. Rawat did find support in his party colleague, Surendra Singh, MLA from Bairia in Uttar Pradesh. Men and women, he said, need to wear decent clothes and women, especially daughters, are the family's prestige and must behave in a dignified manner.

However, what went down on Twitter was quite different in tonality, reflecting outrage and sometimes humour, with many people, particularly women, posting their photographs in their carefully ripped jeans. While some asked the Uttarakhand chief minister to mind his own business, others lambasted him for imposing his "patriarchal" and "misogynistic" views.