Venerating women has long been said to be India’s pastime, at least in the stories told at bedtime. Cutting off Surpanakha’s nose was an epic aberration never repeated in literary form. So, when the Prime Minister once indirectly referred to a Congress Rajya Sabha MP as ‘Surpanakha’, the Ravana of the moment was Modi and nobody else; it was perhaps the lowest ebb in Modi’s existence then. For the women of the species, there have always been too many Kauravas around for comfort. The only epic being who respected women without conditions attached was Hanuman, whose treatment of Sita was the stuff of legends. In our country, we keep hearing of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, a slogan popularised since Modi came to rule; and most often heard in Haryana where for ages women were always kept behind veils of convenient inconvenience.
It, however, defeats logic as to why only the State of Punjab, and the AAP Government of Punjab, should be concerned about the fallout of the Chandigarh University MMS leak case. The ignominy for the 60-odd girls of Chandigarh University does not end at the borders of Punjab or Haryana. Already, Himachal Pradesh is an outpost very much involved in the racket; and who knows till were all, in which all States, and in which all universities, the tentacles are spread out. The moral compass of our students, and that of our teachers, haven’t been set for a long time. The times are such that it wouldn’t be for another long period. Nobody is bothered; the least, the rulers of India. The attempted cover-up is worse. If some reports talk of multiple MMS videos, others say ‘bollocks!’ if some reports mention attempted suicides by the dozens, yet others dismiss them as ‘rumors’. Lost between all these is the truth. How many MMS has made it to social media? One. Two. Sixty? Protests have broken out. ‘We want justice’ is trending. And ‘who did it?’ is on everybody’s tongue. Also, who uploaded it on social media? A probe has been ordered by the AAP Government of Punjab, with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann saying ‘Our daughters are our pride’.
But then, what else can he say? According to the National Crime Records Bureau, cyber crime against women has risen by 28% – cyber blackmail, threatening, cyber pornography, posting/publishing of obscene sexual materials, cyber stalking, bullying, defamation, morphing and creation of fake profiles. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar blames most of the crimes against women on the ‘north Indian mentality’. For Pawar not giving women their 33% quota in the Lok Sabha, and in the legislative assemblies, was a reflection on the ‘mansikta’ of north India. “When I was a Congress Lok Sabha member… once after completing my speech (on 33 percent reservation for women), I turned back and saw that the majority of MPs from my party (had) got up and left. This means even for people from my party, it was not digestible!” Long story short, if India does not do away with the reservation policy, it might as well be in every sphere. It’s time that our Government proves its commitment to the women folk of the country based on their earned merit and helps empower them in the real sense of the term.
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