India, Oct. 15 -- The comment on the Durgapur gangrape by West Bengal chief minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee is only the latest in a long string of disquieting remarks made by top politicians on women's issues, especially around sexual violence and safety. Though Banerjee has since said that her words were distorted (a standard response), the suggestion that a 23-year-old MBBS student who was gangraped near a medical college in Durgapur was somehow responsible for the crime because she was out late at night has triggered outrage. Unfortunately, such attitudes are only too common and span political and ideological lines. Whether it be Union ministers blaming rising sexual crimes on boys and girls "roaming around" with each other, a CM saying parents need to "introspect" on allowing children out late at night, or a senior leader excusing violent crime by saying "boys will be boys", depressing examples of insensitivity appear to be the norm in Indian politics - a strange dichotomy in a landscape where leaders now regularly sing paeans to women power and strive hard to woo the female vote, an increasingly decisive demographic in elections. Can this change? Maybe politicians, whose life's work is building a standing in the community they claim to represent, should take lessons in sensitivity or public communications - especially in cases of social importance - and remember that they are leaders whose examples are emulated by supporters. Or they can possibly keep the vote bank they are trying to win over and restrain themselves from making off-the-cuff remarks that harden patriarchal mores. Ultimately, maybe the most realistic response is to admit that, save for some exceptions, politicians are largely a reflection of the prevalent social moods and customs that govern society - no worse, and definitely no better....