The past couple of
years we are hearing more and more stories of atrocities against women. Gang
rapes, murders, creating MMS have become part of everyday life. Recently there
was this case of Badayun where 2 sisters were raped, hanged to death by upper
caste people of the village involving a police man. If these horrific
incidences were not enough for us women, we now have our elected
representatives asking their men o rape and kill us. Tapas Pal, a celebrated
actor of Tollygunj and a 2 time MP of TMC was recorded on camera asking his men
to rape and kill women who were Communist sympathizers. In the Badayun case,
Akhilesh Yadav asked a female journalist smilingly whether she was raped or
not? His father a thespian of politics went a step further and said boys made
mistakes and rape was one of them. Babulal Gour, an octogenarian, 8 time MLA
from Madhya Pradesh and the current Home Minister of the state is known for his
derogatory statements against women. The latest being that women are
responsible because of the clothes they wear & men who rape do not inform
the police before doing this. The Home Minister of Chhatisgarh echoed his
thoughts. A Goan minister is against women going to pubs and drinking. He wants
them to stop wearing short dresses. And if all of this was not enough we have a
BJP leader O P Dhanker promising Harayanvi men that he will get them Bihari
brides if they bring BJP to power in the state.
All these men and their
statements are not one off. We can see them regularly mirrored in our everyday
lives when constitution gives us the right education but the society takes away
our right to apply this education and earn for ourselves. Laws have been made
but the implementers of these laws are the perpetrators of such horrors in the
society. Women leaders who sit on the citadel of power by breaking norms in the
past, now do nothing more than paying lip service. There are agitations,
gheraos, fact finding missions, corpus funds, new schemes but no stringent
action is taken against any of these men by any political parties.
The thought that comes
to mind with regards to these moronic statements is that is our society really
so regressive? Are our elected representatives really so insensitive? Are political
compulsions so strong that a trail blazing leader like Mamta Banerji does
nothing? Is political will so low? Is the divide in the society so wide that
women are used as means of destruction?
Over the years we have continuously
seen political parties advocating education for girls, bringing them into jobs,
giving them representation in elections and reservations in Panchayats. But has
all this helped the cause of women at large? Are the leaders echoing what the
society really thinks? In my city of Bhopal women have the liberty of moving
out for their education and jobs but they are not secure.
Is there a solution to
all this? Discussions, seminars, symposiums on gender equality, women
emancipation talks about creating awareness in the society, sensitizing the
boys, giving self defense courses to our girls, more stringent laws are some of
the measures. Yes they all work but we also need to set an example of our
leaders. Tapas Pal has a wife and daughter, both in public life and quite
liberal. Babulal Gour’s daughter in law is a Mayor, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife is a
two time MP. Ehat does this all reveal that it is fine to further the careers
of the women of their families mete out Talibanise acts for women in general. Leaders
and political parties have to take tough decisions and we women need to come
together to fight for our cause.
Very sickening spectacle!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate that in the recent times, there has been an increase in crimes against women. However, if we look at the percentage of crimes, hasn’t that lowered over the years. Also, the modes of communication and technological growth have actually given us an opportunity to receive authentic data at a rate faster than ever. It is sad that some of the politicians have been insensitive about the issues… Is it a fact that the crimes have actually increased or is it the quick access to information which has improved over the years that gives greater exposure to crimes?
ReplyDeleteMoreover, it's just not crimes or certain acts identified as crimes against women that should be considered a benchmark in ascertaining the condition of female genre in the country. Government policies, economic and social changes due to technology and need have a great impact on the status of women in the society, which has improved.
It’s not just the state but judiciary’s duty to strictly deal with heinous criminals to set examples. Just fast track doesn’t help! Giving and earning respect is a two way process and respecting women at home is the starting point. The society will continue cribbing for crime against women till the time, females are considered as second grade citizens. The solution is not to fight for rights but to seek a collaborative solution in development of women fraternity… Keep writing Tanima!