By Raakhee Suryaprakash
This post is the final part in a series devoted to the ongoing elections in India
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| Image from 123rf |
Addressing a rally in Moradabad, on Thursday, April
10, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed capital punishment
for rape, stating that first girls develop friendship with boys. Then when
differences occur, they level rape charges. Boys commit mistakes. Will they be
hanged for rape?”
Mulayam Singh said his government would try to
change such anti-rape laws. “Those who level false allegations will also be
punished… In Mumbai also, the rape accused have been sentenced to be hanged,”
he said, referring to the Shakti Mills case. Outraging many even as he won the
approbation of his target audience – the misogynists of his home state and
their supporters across the nation!
In its poll manifesto the SP has promised to check
the misuse of stringent measures in the anti-rape law. The manifesto mentions
that SP MPs had voiced their concern about their possible misuse. In a state
that consistently underperforms that even space was given to such a degrading
policy is a matter of concern.
Even before the furore Mulayam Singh’s comments
raised could die down his party’s Maharashtra leader Abu Azmi courted even more
controversy stating in an interview defending his party supremo’s words that “Women
having sex should be hanged.”
These are his words – a definite candidate for
mandatory gender sensitivity brainwashing not just lessons – as only drastic
therapy could make such a man learn sense:
"In India, if you have sex with a person with
consent, it's fine. But if that same person complains, it's a problem.
Nowadays, we see a lot of such cases. Girls complain when someone touches them,
and even when someone doesn't touch them. It becomes a problem then, and the
man's honour is ruined in this. IF RAPE HAPPENS WITH OR WITHOUT CONSENT, it
should be punished as prescribed in Islam."
"Solution is this: any woman if, whether
married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent,
should be hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldn't be allowed even if a
woman goes by consent."
Azmi and Yadav have their vote-bank tapped. They are
pandering to their beliefs and promising them that if they rape their party
will try to get them off with a rap on the knuckles. They are more focussed on
getting the relatively well off Jat community “Backward Class” reservation
rather than uplifting the downtrodden women of all communities of their states!
Moral policing seems to be the norm for these
“leaders” of the nation and while SP maybe the latest to court this controversy
other parties at various times have been equally misogynistic. Instead of
concentrating on governance which is their duty they are preoccupied peeping
into bedrooms.
And the EC is bothered about Amit Shah and Azam
Khan’s hate spewing rather than the hate for half of Indians that Mulayam Singh
Yadav and Abu Azmi spewed unchecked. And tapping into the electoral base that
is future rapists and gang rapists! The
Hindu’s editorial on April 12, 2014 aptly called them and other such
politicians India’s Pro-rapist Lobby! Unless misogyny is treated on par with
inciting communal tensions and sedition women in India will not see a visible
and immediate betterment of their status. Hopefully the new government voted in
by a what looks to be a majority of women will work to ensure our upliftment
and safety!