Whenever I opposed a political strongman against injustice, my mother would caution me against the wrath of their anger and that of their fanatic followers. Today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the most ruthless and arrogant followers who attack every person who questions the authoritarian Modi regime. But after what happened in Kathua and Unnao, no mother would stop their son or daughter’s voice against this barbaric system. After all, only a mother can understand the pain of a mother losing her daughter in such an atrocious way.
Today, I saw a video circulated by the BJP-sponsored social media page of Karnataka, in which Modiji himself is keeping a pair of sandals at the feet of a poor Dalit woman. I really liked the humility of this person. A minute later, another post by a coastal Karnataka BJP supporter shocked me and I was stunned for a while. He had posted an article about a coastal Karnataka Hindu woman who had been raped by Muslim men and had questioned the protests going on in the country. In poll-bound Karnataka, communal polarisation hasn’t worked except in the coastal parts. The BJP is building up Modi into a Gandhi in Bangalore and Godse in Mangalore. This hypocritical so-called ‘Hindu’ outfits – RSS and BJP – are using even the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old kid for their political gains. They don’t deserve to talk about the ideal of Sri Rama. Their aims of political victory have led them far away from humanity.
How much more restraint can a sane person have in this monstrous society? Only we, the people can change this. Through our united voice against every lawmaker who doesn’t support the death penalty for rapists, by demanding a completely independent judiciary, fast-track courts for atrocity cases against women and more power for the Women’s Commission in every state.
Over six years ago, two BJP ministers were caught on camera watching porn on the floor of the legislative assembly in Karnataka. If they had been banned from holding elected office and stripped of their political ranks, I don’t think these monsters from the same outfit would have dared to allegedly commit a rape in Unnao and protect the rapists and murderers in Kathua. If we ignore these cow faced foxes today, they will surely come for our cubs tomorrow.
The BJP may have the strength to weaken the divided political opposition but they definitely can’t stop the people’s rage from washing them off the shores. After Jyoti Singh’s (Nirbhaya) rape and murder in 2012, the whole country voiced its anger and shed its tears and soon went back to sleep. For the last six years, each and every day, hundreds of atrocities on woman have been committed. In Unnao, a father had to sacrifice his own life for his daughter’s voice to be heard.
The media is busy calculating political alliances and discussing pre-poll opinions and playing number games. Serious questions are going unanswered. If India as a country doesn’t unite as one voice against the political establishment, this nation will never be forgiven by our future generations for being cowards. Fight back! Don’t be cowards.