We have more or less gotten used to news of violence. We no longer shudder at the horrifying accounts of violence in the media or on the internet. We have gotten used to reading news of people of minority religions being lynched, being thrown from a moving train, being burnt alive, and Dalit children and women being beaten to death for accidentally touching people of high castes. Hearing about the police and the army killing people based on mere suspicion or of molestation and rape and murder of women without any fear of the judicial system does not shock us anymore. We have almost forgotten about the darkness underneath the bright lights, the darkness in which the minorities, Dalits, and poor people live, a life without security and with no hope of justice. For the police or the courts, for the government or the opposition parties, these people are merely garbage. Their lives are worth nothing. A few instances of their frustration make headlines and are then used for political gains.
75 years of India’s independence has just been celebrated with a lot of fanfare. Amrit Mahotsav was celebrated at a huge expense of taxpayers’ money. In the cacophony of the celebrations, we accepted a few truths without batting an eyelid. Since the BJP came to power, atrocities on women have increased by about 30%. In one of the most densely populated regions of the world, Uttar Pradesh, cases of rape and murder have increased sharply. Numbers and statistics sometimes blunt the emotional impact of horrifying events. But some things cannot be wiped off from our subconscious minds. A mockery of justice and vengeance of the ruling government overshadows everything else. Have we managed to forget the girl from Unnao? She was gang raped and then her father was killed in police custody. The accused was a BJP MLA. Have we forgotten the Dalit woman from Hathras? Or the two sisters from Lakhimpur Kheri? Or, going back a few years, the horror of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Almost all these cases have something in common. In almost all these cases targets of violence are people from religious minorities or from the socially ostracized Dalit community. In most instances, the oppressors are members of the political party in power especially the BJP, a party whose core values are of spreading communal hatred. This is especially clear from the Gujarat riots whose horrors are second only to that of the widespread riots during the Partition of India. Three days of indiscriminate rapes and killings of Muslims are difficult to even imagine. According to official figures, more than 1000 people died, and more than a lakh were displaced from their homes. The Modi-led BJP government in Gujarat indirectly and directly aided and abetted the killers. There was political interference in the judicial system. As a result, fast and impartial justice was not obtained in most cases. Even in the cases where justice was meted out, the powerful political figures backing the rioters were never brought to justice. Those who spoke out against the indiscriminate killings at that time and later testified about the role of the government during the riots have not escaped the vengeance of the state even today. They are now accused of giving false evidence and are now labelled as traitors of our country. Some say that in 2001 BJP was losing political ground in Gujarat. They suffered a resounding defeat in the Panchayat elections. After that Narendra Modi replaced Keshubhai Patel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Three months later, 56 Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive in a train compartment in Godra, allegedly by Muslims. That set off the three-month-long pogrom against the Muslim community. Even after the riots in Gujarat, 20 people were shot dead on suspicion of being terrorists. The Assembly elections were preponed and the BJP swept back to power. This process of inciting communal violence and extracting political gain out of that has been described by some people as the ‘Gujarat Model’.
The leaders of the rioters are roaming freely today. The poison of sectarianism and communalism has spread to every layer of the society. The few who have received some semblance of justice now have their belief and confidence in the system hit rock bottom today. On 15th August 2022, on the 75th anniversary of our independence, 11 rioters who raped Bilkis Bano were released from jail after serving 15 years of their sentence thanks to the benevolence of the Gujarat government. But according to the Indian Penal Code, the punishment for rape and murder is life imprisonment. For them, life imprisonment should truly mean imprisonment for the rest of their lives. Those who carried out this heinous crime inspired by religious fanaticism, who killed 14 people who were with Bilkis Bano, who raped a three-year-old girl and bashed the head of a three-day-old child were her neighbours. They were all people who knew their victims. Bilkis’s fight for justice is truly heartbreaking. The police station deliberately registered wrong complaints against the accused. All the evidences of rape vanished from the hospital. Bilkis could not go back home during the trial. To avoid harassment or even worse, she had to hide under a false identity frequently changing places where she was staying. After a long and arduous fight in the courts, 11 people were convicted. But the Indian judicial system could not give her justice and peace even after that. The convicts, on their release from jail were treated like heroes and were greeted with garlands and sweets. They returned to their homes in Bilkis’s village while she can still not go back to her home. She did not get justice. It is not clear whether she will get justice in the future.
Bilkis Case, Ishrat Jahan, the state-sponsored assassination of Sohrabuddin clearly demonstrates the partiality of the state. The state under the guise of religious fanaticism and in the name of protecting orthodox beliefs is strengthening its political and economic policy. This has become the norm in the past few decades, especially during BJP rule. Building Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, demolishing houses of minorities and of political opponents with bulldozers, creating religious polarization, and creating situations conducive to riots are the modus operandi of the BJP-RSS. Hatred and mistrust of people of other religions and intolerance have become deeply rooted in our mindset. As a result, the open air of modernization does not bring liberation. It becomes a partner in the spread of the poison of communalism. This atmosphere of hatred and mistrust towards each other distracts people’s attention while the government sells off national assets and wealth to exploitative entities like Adani, Ambani, and Tata. Selling the government-owned Air-India to Tata at a low price, efforts to privatize the Indian Railways, and selling off of profitable government-run industries are examples known to all of us. We know that our country’s natural resources are no longer being used for the growth of our country. They are being exported at low cost without any concern about the ecological balance or about the lives and livelihood of the local people. We can feel that our daily existence has become more difficult. We can understand that the government has abdicated all responsibility for its citizens’ lives and secure livelihoods. But in principle, the exact opposite is supposed to happen. Every day we are being pushed into a competition with other people like us who are as tired and hungry as we are. We still keep watching stories of the “man with 56-inch chest”. We feel elated at the fake news of how our country is becoming more developed and prosperous. We seek entertainment in cheap thrills. We fall for government propaganda instead of looking at the actual situation. It is as if we are trapped in some artificial colourful bubble.
The decayed historical value system which shackles women and men, stifles their growth, and kills thoughts of liberation had been partially defeated through numerous progressive mass movements and public demands. But the darkness did not dissipate. The inequalities in our country are not only limited to income, it is also ingrained in our society and our culture. The Indian identity is not a monolithic concept. In our country, many nations and nationalities coexist. In different parts of our country, there are huge variations in religion, history, culture, and traditions. Different parts of our country are in different stages of economic and cultural progress. The politics of RSS and BJP is the politics of force. Their goal is to forcefully establish uniformity of religion, language, and culture across the country. On one hand, they need a labour force who can be exploited and who can be legally prohibited from asking for their basic rights. On the other hand, to control this huge labour force, they need an army of mindless enforcers who would be capable of violence to keep the working class in check. As a result, instead of trying to achieve overall socioeconomic development, segregations based on caste, class, religion, and gender have been intentionally nurtured. There is an urgent need for the government to establish the old rotten culture. The fundamental democratic right of raising questions is not conducive to them. For their survival, they need blind loyalty, not opposition. This blind unquestioning loyalty, they will achieve either under the guise of protecting traditions or by force using fear of punishment. The current regime is therefore in favour of the worn-out ancient traditions. They want to go back to a system where instinct is the last word, and satisfying hunger and self-indulgence are the only driving forces for the people. They want to turn us back into animals who do not know right from wrong.
This has left its mark on the relationship between women and men. BJP envisions a male-dominated society where relationships between men and women will be based on exploitation. We know the patriarchal Manuvadi thought processes behind this. The basic truth that the root of any gender relation should be equality is under attack. The government wants women to be a part of the labour force and even part of the army of its enforcers. However, socially their standing would always be below men’s. The males are the state and will hold the power. They can rape and hang the bodies from a tree with impunity. Or, as police, they can kill some poor convenient scapegoats wrongfully framed for rape. In a state which glorifies this culture, Bilkis is special. But we also need to remember that the fight is not just to punish the 11 rapists of Bilkis. The role of the repressive state has historically been carried out by proxy by men both inside homes and outside. Men have always been the main driving force of the system of exploitation. BJP-RSS has given legitimacy to this. The violence against women is effectively sanctioned by the state. And the government’s self-proclaimed agenda is that of extermination of minorities. Bilkis is a victim of state-sponsored violence as are all the Muslim women molested and violated by male rioters. What we need to remember is that the rapes and murders of women with complete impunity happening in every corner of our country really are weapons for suppressing and controlling women. The male tyranny is implementing the repression policy of the state. Reporting of rape or sexual violence in mass media is done in a provocative and salacious tone, as fodder for entertainment. Indirect detachment is imposed, and the role of the state policy in favour of violence is forgotten. So, Bilkis’s fight is also a fight against state policy. It is also our fight. This fight must continue. The fight is to prevail against male domination and against the evil anti-people oppressive state standing behind that. That is the hope we place in this struggle of Bilkis and all the Bilkis Banos in our country.
This article was published in the October 2022 issue of Matribhumi journal – the mouthpiece of
Azad Gano Morcha
Cover photo courtesy – https://www.siasat.com/bilkis-bano-challenges-release-of-11-convicts-in-supreme-court-2469148/ [Retrieved On: 20/03/2023]