For Chairman of United Breweries and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya, the new year has got mercury levels shooting.And it’s not the hot bods gracing his Kingfisher Swimsuit Special 2004 calendar. It’s the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission, which is screaming bloody murder as the calendar ‘‘commodifies’’ the woman’s body — and because Mallya has ‘‘tarnished’’ the image of Parliamentarians.Commission chairperson Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar, in a letter to RS Dy Chairperson Najma Heptullah and LS Speaker Manohar Joshi, has demanded action against the entrepreneur over the calendar. ‘‘It is unethical and against the oath taken by the Members of Parliament for Mallya to print and advertise such a calendar. He may say that he has done it in his own capacity, but Parliamentarians have a moral responsibility to safeguard the interests of women,’’ says an angry Prabhavalkar.A UB Group spokesperson refused to comment until he saw the contents of the Commission’s complaint, but photographer Atul Kasbekar isn’t mincing his words about the furore concerning a ‘‘privately circulated calendar for a discerning clientele’’.He says the models’ mothers-in-law can put it up on their walls too. ‘‘There is no vulgarity or nudity. Would they have made a furore over someone who was not as important? When they talk of offending morals, whose morals are they talking about? My website has received about 1.7 million hits from Pakistan alone since the launch of the calendar,’’ says Kasbekar.Jumping into the fray is the BJP’s women’s wing, whose president Kanta Nalavade wants to take the issue up with National Commission for Women president Poornima Advani. ‘‘My party endorses the step taken by the State Commission for Women (SCW). How can a Parliamentarian publish such a calendar?’’ she says.Shiv Sena Member of the Legislative Council and member of the National Task Force for Women, Dr Neelam Gorhe, says the action contemplated by the Commission is insufficient.
