It took PM Modi quite a few days to say “…as a country we should feel ashamed” about the Kathua and Unnao rapes. His silence was deafening. At the same time, pro-rapist rallies and communal barriers shook the nation. On Youth Ki Awaaz, hundreds of users powerfully spoke out against the Kathua rape and condemned the sickening rape culture that’s part of the ‘fabric’ of our society. Follow 10 writers, and read excerpts from their pieces below.
1. Zainab Ahmed
“Why is it so difficult for our PM and even us to register that the likes of the Hindu Ekta Manch don’t want us to look at her as a victim of a heinous crime who needs our anger? They don’t want us to look at her as India’s daughter but as a Muslim girl who ‘got what she deserved’. If they succeed in dividing us today, we’ll not just be failing her but also all our daughters.”
2. Somya Bajaj
“You have been named as one of the Most Influential People in the World and your actions matter. What you choose to speak on influences social norms. When you remain silent on this matter, it signals to the perpetrators of horrific crimes that their actions are accepted.”
3. Yogesh Parmar
“Maybe you noticed that you and I prepared this crime. Maybe you know that the four men who raped and killed the girl carried it out in our name. Maybe you need to show up and raise a stink to tell yourself and everyone else that this is not in your name. Until then, you and I are stained in red, with the blood of an eight-year-old. Maybe you and I are the only ones who can do something about this.”
4. Kamni Bavoria
“Nothing is same after her death. People are full of so much hatred for each other… And what’s more astonishing is how people are ready to use anything (sam, dham, dhand, bhed) to save the skin of “their” people. Earlier it was our people or people of Jammu but now it’s “their” people. “Their” means Hindu or Muslim or Gujjars or Bakarwals or Gaddi.”
5. Rimli Bhattacharya
“I am ashamed, as a woman I am ashamed and I refuse to call myself an Indian till justice is delivered to the innocent. Our country is gradually deteriorating and we must act now to stop these injustices, people please speak up against the government and throw them out of power. They deserve the back door, they had promised “Achche Din” (good days) and what good days we are seeing is clear to all.”
6. Preyansi Mani
“Let the proud Hindus not try and distance ourselves. We all are responsible for breeding barbarians and giving them political power and supporting the Hindutva ideology that nurtures such barbarians. All of us as silent watchers, listeners, are dead Hindus.”
7. Saumya Srivastava
“Her eyes haunt me. This morning, I confided in my sister how her big eyes remind me of Mysha (my daughter). Her mother addressed her as a “chirping bird” while we call Mysha a “Chiya”. While the latter is related to me by blood, the earlier has pierced my soul. How many more will we sacrifice in the name of religion?”
8. Shahla Khan
“The phrase ‘beti bachao’ itself is part of the problematic system. It implies that unless someone is not your ‘beti’ or daughter, you don’t care about her. It is the old patriarchal tactic of keeping women subjugated. Why isn’t the phrase ‘beta sudharo’? Because if the men of the nation stop committing violence against women, the so-called ‘beti’ of the nation wouldn’t need saving, right?”
9. Imran Ali Buth
“The moment I read the news I felt a shiver run down my spine. It was so disturbing that I couldn’t concentrate on my work the entire day. I expressed my grief and sorrow in an elegy. I was literally weeping over and again – imagining this little girl, the tribulations she went through and how her dead body was dumped in a garbage pit, mercilessly after being raped and murdered.”
10. Sheelu Nishad and Khabar Lahariya
“Honestly, I am not hopeful of her getting justice. I do not blame the adhikaris and officials – they all only follow the party in governance. And UP and the Centre both have BJP in power. Sarkar ki satta (The government’s power) is the most powerful mechanism in the world – there is nothing bigger or more powerful than that. Until and unless the governing party comes forward, this case too will fall into the usual cycle of dabaav, dhamki, samjhauta.”
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