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| Image from Malayalam weekly |
After the Modi government took charge of the nation in
2014, the number of assaults on women hit a record. In 2021 alone, in spite of
the Covid-lockdowns, there were 31,677 cases registered in this regard. A lot
more assaults go unregistered for various reasons. 87 rapes take place in India
ever day now. That is the official statistic. You can imagine the real number.
There is little connection between word and deed in
Modi governance. The empowerment of women was one of the loudest slogans of
Modi when he came to power. Nine years later, women have been enfeebled more
than ever. There are a lot of slogans and projects like Beti Bachao Beti
Padhao and Mahila Samman Bachat Patra Yojana. Diarrhoea of words and
constipation of deeds.
One bizarre truth is that women have been transmuted
into battlefields in Modi’s India. Rape is a weapon that the right wing in
India now wields effectively. Manipur is the latest war zone. How many women
have been raped there is a mystery. When the figures are revealed, our PM will
coin a new slogan. That’s it.
Let’s go 5 years back. Jan 2018. Place: Kathua in
J&K. An 8-year-old nomad girl is abducted, gangraped and murdered by six
men. A year and a half later, these 6 rapists are convicted. In Oct 2019, an
FIR is lodged against the police officers who investigated the case for
allegedly torturing and coercing the witnesses to give false statements. The
Hindu Ekta Manch carried out protest marches in Feb 2018 to get one of the
rapists released. The rally was attended
by two BJP ministers. The main accused in the rape case was the priest of
the local temple. His son and his nephew too joined him in perpetrating the
atrocious crime. And they have the support of the ruling party.
Imagine a political party that upholds gangrape!
Let’s go half a year more back. June 2017. Place:
Unnao in BJP’s stronghold. BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his friends rape a
17-year-old girl. The victim became the accused in Yogi Adityanath’s system of
justice. Her father was arrested on a fabricated charge under the Arms Act. The
hapless man died in custody. The girl who was raped attempted to immolate
herself at the Chief Minister’s residence. A year later, the girl and her relatives
were hit by a truck. The relatives died and the girl sustained serious
injuries.
Imagine a political party that incriminates a rape
victim!
Hathras of 2020 may be fresh in your memory. Remember
the 19-year-old Dalit girl gangraped by four upper caste men? She died two
weeks later. And Yogi Adityanath’s police cremated her body without even
informing her parents.
Imagine a political party that treats the low caste
people as waste!
It is the same party that released the rapists of
BIlkis Bano in August last year. Not only released, the rapists were garlanded like
heroes when they came out of the prison.
Imagine a political party that lionises rapists!
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| The rapists of Bilkis Bano being garlanded by VHP - image from The Print |
I mentioned a few individual examples above. The
number of women raped in Manipur in the past couple of months could be mind-boggling.
Reports travel very slow from that region of India.
Has Hindustan weaponised rape?
Rape was wielded as an official national weapon in
many countries like Armenia, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi,
Sri Lanka, Syria, and Sudan. 61% of the Congo soldiers were infected with HIV
and they passed on that deadly virus to the thousands of women they raped. When
the former West Pakistani soldiers raped the Bengali women of East Pakistan
[today’s Bangladesh], they added insult to injury by telling the Bengali women
to deliver Punjabi children.
Impregnating the women with your seed is the most
heinous way of showing your power over them. Is this what India is doing now
under Modi’s much-vaunted governance? Much worse, perhaps. India’s
right-wingers are not only rapists but also murderers. The country has to fight
another liberation war.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteHorrific. The terrible truth is that everywhere in the world, women continue to be considered 'lower class'... even here where many battles have been fought and, ostensibly, won. There has been much uncovering of workplace misbehaviours by men toward their female colleagues. As you have suggested, the rise of populist governance appears to have unleased the beast yet again. There is almost a shrugging of collective shoulders that "men will be men" - which really means the men will always answer the animal in themselves. I don't believe this of all men, but it is surprising, sometimes where one finds this lurking... YAM xx
When a government fails to punish the culprits, instead shields them and persecutes the victim and her family, what can we expect? Thank heavens that the vast majority are stopping with the collective shrug of the soulders rather than following the examples of their leaders.
DeleteThe instances described here are horrifying and heart-wrenching. We must not turn a blind eye to such atrocities. There's a need for tangible actions and policies to address this grave problem. As a society, we need to hold our leaders accountable and demand concrete measures to protect women's rights and safety.
ReplyDeleteIndia now is behaving like the children of the Pied Piper. That's why we're going to have this leader again for another term.
Delete"Diarrhoea of words and constipation of deeds" Indeed, leading to anarchy.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there's no alternative in sight.
DeleteWhat we saw in Manipur was too shocking. Women have been the subject of exploitation, harassment and assault. It's of no recent origin. Only that some numbers and incidents get highlighted at periodic intervals. Governments (be that of any party for that matter) do have a role to play to ensure that women (and men and children too) can live without fear. But there is a lot more that individuals, families, and various communities have to do to ensure that women are not objectified and treated just as men are.
ReplyDeleteNortheast is a delicate sociopolitical system. BJP has exploited the situation rather too cynically. I think, like a lot many others, that the present crisis in Manipur is a creation of the party which has sinister motives. The way churches have been particularly targetted is an indication.
DeleteIt seem like a lot of things, we fought for. Is now being lost. Scary.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on, and stay safe.
Scary, no doubt. Scarier is that there's government involvement in all this.
DeleteSuch incidents had started at the very outset of the Modi regime. Modi had taken oath of the PM's office on 26.05.2014 and the very next day (ON 27.05.2014) two Dalit girls were found has hanging from a tree in Badaun (U.P.). The perpetrators of that heinous crime are yet to be brought to book. Instead the poor and downtrodden parents of those unfortunate girls were harassed by not only the police but also the CBI. You are right in asserting that when the actual figures are revealed, our PM will (definitely) coin a new slogan. Why ? Because that's all he knows. People themselves are fools to allow him to establish his so-called brand and larger than life image. He is simply enjoying the foolishness of his voters (and more so of his devotees).
ReplyDeleteI remember the Badaun case. I have felt time and again that Modi is not concerned about the poor at all except in his absurd slogans. He may eliminate poverty in India by eliminating the poor.
DeleteIt is such a sad state of affairs that one has nothing more to add to what you have already said in your post.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part is that it's all going to get worse.
DeleteThe unreported atrocities are too overwhelming to imagine. But imagine we must.
ReplyDeleteHope our governments start imagining too.
Delete