By Gyan Pathak
The ‘Persona’ in ancient Greece was the mask worn by the artists while performing drama on stage. The real persons always remained behind those masks from which came the word personality, which meant the character they played. In the light of this one can see the personality of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wore a mask of ‘pain’ and ‘shame’ in the Lok Sabha while giving a statement on the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur went viral online. He had kept his mouth shut during the last three months of communal violence in the state, as he had done during Gujarat communal violence in 2002.
The person behind the mask was still mysterious, when he was appealing to the chief ministers of the opposition ruled state in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, almost equating them with Manipur who have been alleged being in connivance with the perpetrators of violence against the minority and the ST community, to take action.
The real intention was masked in his statement, but the other BJP leader, such as Anurag Thakur or Smriti Irani, who had hinted at it in their statements and indirectly exposed it. Numerous BJP leaders then referred three states specifically – West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh – for atrocities against women but keeping relative silence on Manipur violence, of inaction of the double engine BJP government – both in the State and at the Centre. They wore a mask of pan-India champion against women.
See the beautiful mask wore by Anurag Thakur while saying, “Crime against a woman is crime, be it happening in Manipur, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal or Chhattisgarh. They can’t be differentiated. States have to take action. But, they only want to play politics. Instead of giving report cards of the state ruled by them, they are playing politics,” he said, adding “the country is watching”.
A BJP woman leader wore even more attractive mask and even reached the Supreme Court of India for appropriate order to states. She, Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said in the Supreme Court, “I am seeking pan-India relief for women. They are all daughter of India.”
All these have happened in the backdrop of horrific communal violence in Manipur where minority and ST women from socially and economically disadvantaged sections were specifically targeted by BJP supporter majority community. BJP in Gujarat is known for supporting rapists from majority community and even they helped them coming out of jails, especially in Bilkis Bano case.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud then unmasked them on Monday, July 31, for giving such statements. The Supreme Court said that the atrocities on women in the Manipur violence cannot be excused merely because similar incidents had been reported from other states like Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In the light of the Supreme Court observation, we see the real men, including PM Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders, behind the mask of ‘pain’ and ‘shame’ that they purportedly felt on Manipur violence but have been shying enough not to open their mouths on inaction of BJP governments and their connivance with majority community against the minority and ST community.
As for crime against women in other states, the Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “We will deal with it later. But here we are dealing with something with is unprecedented violence relating to communal and sectarian strie.” Chief Justice also responded, “Are you for a moment saying that do something for all the daughters of India or don’t do anything for anybody at all?”
“You cannot excuse what is taking place in Manipur now on the ground that such crimes are happening to several other women as well in other parts of the country,” said the Chief Justice of India, which is just like unmasking the BJP leaders’ real intenstions including PM Narendra Modi, who have been going on referring other states but underplaying the atrocities in Manipur.
It should be noted that after the viral video of the women, the Supreme Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the issue and had directed the Centre and the State Government to inform it of the steps taken to bring the perpetrators into law. The court had stated in no uncertain terms that it would give a little time for the government to take action but if something was not done soon, it would step in.
Only after that the Centre took action, and ordered a CBI probe into it apart taking decision to transfer the cases in nearby State Assam. Both the decisions were now objected in the Supreme Court by the lawyers of the victims. They are demanding probe by and independent agency since alleging that the BJP governments are in connivance with the perpetrators of the crimes from the majority community.
The intervention petitions filed in the Supreme Court on August 1 have exposed the connivance further. Manipur Police even omitted section 376(2)(g) of IPC and SC/ST (POA) act, women groups – WinG-India and WWI told the Supreme Court, apart from other petitioners. The applications highlighted that even after almost three months since the outbreak of the communal violence, the BJP led double engine governments have failed to restore peace in the strife torn state. Petitioners have also demanded action against the officials for not taking action against the culprits and for conniving with them. (IPA Service)
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