TW: Rape, Sexual Violence
I am writing this as a concerned citizen. A concerned Indian. It is important for me to put this out there because we live in an age when concerns are disregarded as political/ideological bias. In the past, there were issues which weren’t right or left issues, bhakt or ‘commie’ issue, these issues and concerns were universal because they were real. This isn’t the case anymore. It’s sad. This is my India now.
Hathras rape. Imagine our naivety in thinking things would change after the Nirbhaya rape incident almost a decade ago. They did not! After a 19-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly brutally gang-raped and murdered (can’t imagine having to use the word ‘allegedly’), the government seems to go out of their way to hide everything. Media was banned, the family members were threatened, the opposition was muzzled and the worst yet, a late-night burial was given to the girl by the police without the family members or their consent.
Can we even begin to imagine the pain the family would have gone through? The frightening part is that the mainstream media or “modia” that boasts of high TRPs ignored the issue and worse, sometimes gave cover to the actions of the UP government and police. They have lost all journalistic ethics or principles, yet as they scream on the top of their voices, they have the highest TRP. We are to blame because we have chosen wrong, we are encouraging wrong and we are becoming more wrong. Introspect. This is not a political issue. We should all stand together against the government (whoever), this is one of us, this is our country. Stand up.
The economy has crashed, unemployment has skyrocketed, hunger and poverty are rampant. Yet where is the accountability? What did the government do? Bring in legislation that hurt the only industry that showed some hope in this gloomy time, agriculture. If you didn’t know, I wouldn’t fault you, as it is another issue the “modia” refused to cover till they had no option. Why can’t the government bring in a simple amendment to guarantee MSP? Simple protection for the poor farmer in front of the mighty corporates, a guarantee that the government has their back and is not only for the rich?
We are going through a pandemic and here our numbers are high too, only second to the USA in the number of cases and among the top three in terms of deaths. The government has kept silent, it isn’t even an issue. The Modi government openly said in the parliament, that they don’t have statistics on the number of migrants who died during the exodus. Were they were forced to take after the sudden call of a national lockdown? Who should know? What happened to the government machinery?
The government has no record of how many doctors have died fighting Covid-19. These are the same heroes people were asked to applaud by the Supreme leader. Apart from the theatrics and Modi’s personal PR stunts, does anyone really care about us (being a doctor myself)?
The media, the fourth estate, should be asking our leaders and government these questions. It isn’t because it is busy turning the unfortunate suicide of an actor into the biggest conspiracy the world has ever seen. In a case, as of today, the premier medical institute of the country has concluded suicide, the CBI has found nothing to prove otherwise and the NCB has been reprimanded by the court for suggesting a nexus between an actress and the drug cartel without any proof. That is where we are. Remember these people aren’t fools. They are in the middle of the biggest hoodwink there could be. So we are distracted and don’t ask the real questions to the government.
In the face of all this, we have a silent prime-minister. Oh wait, isn’t this the reason we voted out the last one?
Maybe we have to wait for the Bihar elections campaigning to start to be fooled by his highness again. Maybe the pressure of an election campaign will make the almighty come down and be accountable to us, the commoners.
These are my questions, these should be our questions. I am frustrated, not at the problems, but at our inaction, at our indifference, at our apathy. We have to rise. We are alone now, fending for our self. It’s now or never. We have to stand up, stand up and fight for what is our right for our India.