Recently with the video of two Kuki women being paraded naked and then gang raped getting circulated widely on social media, the netizens have come together in solidarity against atrocities that has been committed in Manipur for over two months now. Many are questioning Government’s actions while others are busy playing blame game, but amidst all this dodge ball politics, it’s the weaker section of the society that is suffering.
The violence in Manipur broke out on May 3 between the Meitei people, who live in the Imphal valley and Kuki tribal community, who live in the surrounding hills. This ethnic violence has roots in various reasons, including, demand for Schedule Tribe status for Meitei community, poppy cultivation, irregular land distribution among the Indigenous people and further, the influx of refugees from Myanmar due to its political condition has added fuel to the fire.
Internet ban throughout the state led to severe lack of information regarding the condition of people in the state, and it wasn’t long before the hash tags of ‘Manipur is burning’ was trending in social media, and just when there was a very little light in the horizon, or so was perceived, the circulation of videos of the heinous crime again raged the fire, this time engulfing the entire country. Due to discrepancies in media and communication, the outside world was in dark regarding the condition in Manipur. It is only recently, with the videos garnering attention in the feeds of Instagram did the people understand the gravity of the situation and it is only now, after maintaining perfect silence on the issue, is the Government speaking about it.
It took circulation of the video and people coming together for the Government to speak about it. The Government’s go to method of turning a blind eye and shutting down of internet for all the law enforcement problem has backfired really bad this time. Though the issue garnered limelight late, it does not take away from the fact that such heinous crime was committed, and yet the law enforcement agency failed to take right actions. This video is just the tip of the iceberg for there may be many such women whose stories were given deaf ears. There are many such innocent victims of men’s race for power who did not live to see the light of the day. Be it Mahabharata or the present-day India, the cycle of abuse against women, due to men’s hunger for power has not changed.
It has always been women and children who have to endure the brunt of men’s hunger for power and violence. And amidst this we still have people who go around making this all about men and parading saying, ‘not all men are same’, taking away the voice of women who dared to come forth and advocate for themselves. Sure, not all of the male population is predator, but every woman has been harassed and abused at some point of time. Every woman in our society has a story of how she was wrongfully touched, and cat called, yet these ‘wokes’ have the nerve to call out women for standing for this dignity by trivialising their experience and making it all about men and their honesty. It is difficult to believe that not all men are same when from childhood we are advised against being friends with men by the men in our lives.
Even though the convicts are arrested in the Manipur case, the reality of women’s safety in this country is really too bleak. With the rapists of Bilkis Banu roaming free and swami’s getting parole to celebrate birthdays while they were arrested on charges of rape, to keeping silence on women being stripped of their dignity, the Government is truly showcasing its stance.
How long will the bodies of women be treated like battlefield? Why are women’s lives dispensable just because the men are angry? How low will we fall as a nation? Why does it take viral videos for us to stand for the truth? These are just a few questions that we, as the youth, and the future of this country need to certainly ponder on.