Video Editor: Mohd. Ibrahim & Vivek Gupta
Video Producer: Rupsha Bhadra
Controversy's favourite child, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is India's 71st Republic Day's chief guest. He arrived in India on 24 January for a four-day visit. He will be the third Brazilian President to attend the Republic Day celebrations. Bolsonaro is expected to try to boost bilateral relations between Brazil and India.
Far-right President Bolsonaro came to power in January 2019 and has since created headlines for several different controversies.
Bolsonaro's 5 Most Controversial Statements
1. “We Brazilians don’t like homosexuals.” (2013)
Bolsonaro is openly homophobic and has on many occasions spoken against homosexuals.
“Your face looks an awful lot like a homosexual’s, but that’s is not why I accuse you of being homosexual, and actually, being homosexual is not a crime.”Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil
2. “I’ve got five kids. Four of them are men, but on the fifth I had a moment of weakness and it came out a woman.” (April, 2017)
His disregard for women is widely known. He once told a reporter that he won't rape her because she doesn't deserve it.
3. "This Leonardo DiCaprio is a cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon." (November, 2019)
Bolsonaro blamed Leonardo DiCaprio and NGOs for the blazing amazon fires. He even claimed to not have resources to fight it, after denying money from donors. He then went on to deploying armed forces to curb the blaze.
4. “You’ll never change anything in this country through voting. Things will only change when a civil war kicks off and we do the work the [military] regime didn’t. Killing some 30,000 …. Killing them!” (May 1999)
He supports dictatorship openly.
Social media was abuzz with netizens slamming the choice in 2019, India's choice for Chief Guest for the 70th Republic Day celebrations was US President Donald Trump who was unable to attend it due to 'scheduling constraints.' Trump too, is known for his misogynist, xenophobic and racist comments. Bolsonaro is often referred to as the "Trump of the tropics".
5. “If I become President there will not be a centimeter more of indigenous land.” (2018)
Being highly racist, he has often spoken against indigenous tribes after several took to the streets to protest invasion of their lands by miners and loggers.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)