People's Democracy

AIDWA Condemns BJP, RSS Leaders’ Utterances

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) is deeply shocked by the series of atrocious statements being made by BJP leaders, who are justifying sexual crimes against women by blaming them for becoming victims of assault, rather than focusing on the perpetrators!

In a statement issued from New Delhi on January 5, the AIDWA said the BJP minister from MP, Kailash Vijayvarghia, crossed the limits when he accused women of asking for trouble by crossing the lakshman rekha, as Sita did in the Ramayana. At a time when the whole nation is under a wave of mass protests against crimes on women, it is a shame that a state cabinet minister does not understand the real reasons for sexual and criminal assaults on women, but rather, has displayed a totally retrogressive, anti-women mentality. This is not the first time Kailash Vijayvargiya has made such derogatory comments on women. In July 2012, on the shocking  incident of the molestation of a 17-year girl by a mob in Assam, he commented that women should not wear clothes which provoke others to misbehave with them. The subsequent half-hearted withdrawal of the statement by the minister only adds insult to injury. Such ministers can hardly be expected to safeguard the democratic rights of women, or other disadvantaged sections of society. The AIDWA has therefore demanded his immediate removal from ministership, and emphasised that appropriate action should be taken against him.

The AIDWA was also shocked to learn that Ms Vibha Rao, chairperson of the State Women’s Commission of Chhattisgarh and a prominent BJP leader, has displayed a similar insensitivity and lack of understanding by reportedly remarking that wrong signals are being sent by women through their dress and behaviour. Her attitude to victims of rape in tribal areas is derogatory and insulting to tribal women, whom she accuses of indulging in consensual sex, and then complaining to the police if the couple gets separated. To place such individuals at the head of an institution that is meant to ensure equal rights of women is a grave injustice, the AIDWA said, demanding her dismissal.

Earlier on January 4, the AIDWA had condemned the statement made by RSS supreme, Mohan Bhagwat, reported in some leading newspapers on the day that rape is prevalent mainly in cities where Indians are deeply influenced by western values, and not in rural India. The reported comment that such crimes hardly occur in “Bharat” exposes a total disconnect with women’s experience across India, and the extent of sexual violence and assault being suffered by women in rural India. The AIDWA further said there is sufficient evidence from the National Crime Records Bureau’s data to disprove his assertion and to show the extent of rapes and sexual crimes across regions, not restricted to urban India.

The AIDWA condemned the attempt to trivialise the horrendous degree of suffering, especially of the poor, tribal, dalit, landless sections who have been victims of repeated onslaughts by the elite and powerful sections of feudal society. Such statements are an added injustice to women who have already been denied their rights and dignity.

The AIDWA said the BJP leaders’ statements represent an added injustice to women who have already been denied their rights and dignity, adding that their attempt to drive a wedge in the popular protest in support of women’s entitlement to a violence free life could not be tolerated. The AIDWA asserted that the India versus Bharat divide, as propounded by the RSS and repeated by Shri Bhagwat, would be rebutted by the united voice of the Indian people who have risen up in protest against sexual violence and attacks on women in our country.