Black and white: politics on rap!

In this country, politics has also been played on the issue of rape. A few days ago, controversial actress (and now Member of Parliament) Kangana Ranaut made a shocking statement that 'women were raped during the farmers' agitation in Punjab.' This sparked a lot of controversy and the BJP was forced to clarify that the party had nothing to do with Kangana's statement. After that Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief and former Member of Parliament Simranjit Singh Man made a statement that 'Kangana Ranaut has a lot of experience in rape! We will ask him how rape is done.' It is shocking that such low-level comments come from a person of MP status. In the past, when a rape incident in Uttar Pradesh had sparked public outrage, former Defense Minister and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav had quite simply said 'Bachchon se galatian ho jati hai!' If some perverted men rape a woman, it's their fault!? Many intellectuals eat chicken and say that there should be no violence, but when killer rapists gang-rape a girl and brutally kills her, they are talking about ideology and human psychology! In any country it is considered extremely shameful to politicize the issue of rape, but in our country, from political leaders to blind supporters and opponents of political parties, government intellectuals and anti-government intellectuals also continue to show shamelessness on this issue. When the rape incident took place in West Bengal, BJP supporters clamored for the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the imposition of President's rule in West Bengal. If the police cremate her overnight and the mute dies, then those who defend the government are considered partners in the sin, and now the naive intellectuals who are on the ground to defend Mamata Banerjee on the issue of rape in West Bengal, treating her as her sister or friend, also become partners in the same sin. When someone opposes the occurrence of a rape incident in a state, some evil or madhi (suffering from retardation or excess of intelligence) women and perverted men ask the question on social media, 'Where were you when the rape happened in such and such a state?' (That when a rape incident occurs in a BJP-ruled state, BJP supporters ask, 'Did you raise your voice when a Congress-ruled state was raped or when Mamata Banerjee was raped in Bengal?') That is a perverted attitude. We have to think about the direction we are going as a society. When a heinous crime like rape is committed, ideology should be put aside and partisanship should also be put aside. Women or men who come to the defense of (any) political party in such an event prove to be the enemy of the entire female race (and even of mankind). When an incident of rape or gang-rape occurs and the rape victim is beaten to death, those who defend the incident or the politicians should not have the right to live in the society. When the criminals who gang-raped Nirbhaya and killed her with unimaginable brutality are sentenced to death, there should be no room for any debate on the issue. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should be ashamed of herself when public outrage erupts over the rape and brutal murder of a junior doctor in a hospital in West Bengal. It is the tragedy of our country that in the protests against the government after the rape incident, they see the politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (or the politics of the opposition there when there is a rape incident in Uttar Pradesh or in any BJP-ruled state). When supporters of any political party support any political party after a rape incident, they are dereliction of duty as a citizen – as a human being. They do not think that sometimes such an incident can happen to a woman in their family. After BJP activists gang-rape a college girl in Varanasi, due to public pressure, the police arrest them (although the police do not oppose the bail application when they apply for bail!) Then the gang-rapists come out on bail, wearing flower garlands. It is a shameful fact for our entire country that they are welcomed as if they have won a war. There has been talk (only talk!) about women's safety in our country for a long time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that if we provide a punishment that makes rapists tremble, Mamata Banerjee has passed a bill in West Bengal to provide for death penalty for rapists, but on the other hand, almost all parties in our country have given tickets to several leaders who are accused in rape cases. Or they have sexually harassed women! It is a shame that the political parties of our country politicize the issue of rape, but we should not prove to be dull or blind minded by 'taking sides' of any party on this issue.

Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).