A LADY DRESSED IN RIPPED JEANS RIPS APART ETERNAL ‘BHARTIYA’
CULTURE
Tirath Singh Rawat
who took over as chief minister of Uttarakhand on March 10, 2021 is a senior cadre of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS].
He started RSS career by becoming the organizational secretary of the
Uttarakhand unit of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarti Parishad (ABVP: the student
appendage of the RSS), later promoted as its national secretary. He has been a whole-timer
(pracharak) of the RSS since 1983. He is currently hogging national and
international attention for his comments on a young lady who happened to wear a
pair of ripped jeans while sitting next to him with her two kids during an air
journey.
Surprisingly, he shared the anecdote [date, details of air
carrier not mentioned; those familiar with the conduct of the RSS cadres can
vouch that this story could be a sheer fabrication in order to ‘expose’ the ‘degeneration’
of self-relying independent women and Jawaharlal University [JNU] which have
been the favourite punching bags of the RSS] while addressing a workshop organized by the Uttarakhand State Commission for
Protection of Child Rights in Dehradun on March 17, 2021.
Tirath Singh Rawat’s sermon delivered in Hindi on ‘Bhartiya’
culture which according to RSS is Hindu culture is reproduced verbatim with
English translation in the following:
“Jab unki taraf dekha to neeche gumboot they, jab aur upar dekha to
ghutne fatey they, haath dekhe to kai kade they…Bachhey do saath me unke they.
Maine kaha behan ji kahan jana hai…Delhi jana hai, husband kahan hai…JNU me
professor hain, tum kya karti ho…main ek NGO chalati hun. NGO chalati hain,
ghutne fatey dikhte hain, samaj ke beech me jaati ho, bachhey saath me hain,
kya sanskar dogi?
(When looked at her, at
the bottom she was wearing gum boots when further saw above, jeans ripped on
the knees, and when saw hands [there were] several bracelets. I asked where are
you going sister? I am going to Delhi. Where is husband? He is professor at
JNU. What do you do? I run an NGO. She had two children travelling with her.
Her husband is a professor in JNU. You run an NGO, tattered knees can be seen [wear
jeans ripped at the knees], move about in society, children are with you, what culture
you will teach?).”
While calling the ripped jeans
as “kainchi wala sanskar” (scissor culture), Rawat sermon went
on to declare: “Main kahan le ja raha hun apne bachhey ko fati
jeans pehna karke. Bade baap ka beta hun. Bade baap…betiyan bhi peeche nahi hai.
Who bhi ghutne dikha rahi hain. Yeh achha hai kya? (Where I am
taking my children in tattered jeans… even girls are no less, showing their
knees. Is this good?)”
Rawat was also in news for
equating PM Narendra Modi with Lord Ram and Lord Krishna for former’s work for
society.
[https://indianexpress.com/article/india/uttarakhand-tirath-singh-rawat-jeans-remark-7233324/]
CM unconcerned about
plight of children in his State
It was shocking that CM of Uttarakhand was denigrating a lady in absentia
in a programme to discuss the rights of the children in the State. He was
expected to address the issues concerning the plight of children in his State
which were well documented. According to the government data released in 2019, 26.6% children were found underweight and 33.5% were stunted in
Uttarakhand. Thus out of 36 Indian States and Union Territories Uttarakhand
ranked number 10. [https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1578362t]
Moreover, as per a survey conducted by the Integrated
Child Development Services of Uttarakhand (ICDS), a government agency, in
2018 thousands of children were malnourished in the State. The number of
missing children in the State was on the rise which could be due to the human
trafficking also. According to the National Crime Record Bureau of the Indian
home ministry 435, 607 and 633 children went missing in the years 2016, 2017
and 2018 respectively. No data on the missing children is available after 2018
onward. Rawat should have shared the plan of rehabilitating the women and
children of those workers who perished in an unprecedented avalanche due to the
breaking-off a glacier in Joshimath in Chamoli district on February 7, 2021. In
this avalanche more than 250 people died with two big dams under construction
were washed off.
CM touted RSS take on
women
Since the CM had nothing to offer to the children of Uttarakhand, he
resorted to a diversionary tactic, a practice gone viral among the RSS-BJP
rulers. It is to be noted that the degenerated and reprehensive narrative of
the CM was not surprising. It was no aberration. He was simply parroting the
RSS take on women and ‘Bhartiya’ culture. In this respect following facts need
to be taken into account.
The Constituent Assembly of India passed the constitution on
November 26, 1949 which guaranteed gender, political, social and economic
equality. The RSS was furious. Its English organ in an editorial on November 30, 1949, stated that in
the constitution:
“there is no mention of the unique
constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written
long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as
enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and
elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits
that means nothing.”
Laws of Manu are
very clear about women. It decreed in chapter IX:
1. Day and night woman must be kept in
dependence by the males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves
to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control. (IX/2)
2. Her father protects (her) in childhood, her
husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman
is never fit for independence. (IX/3)
3. Women must particularly be guarded against
evil inclinations, however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not
guarded, they will bring sorrow on two families. (IX/5)
4. Considering that the highest duty of all
castes, even weak husbands (must) strive to guard their wives. (IX/6)
5. No man can completely guard women by force;
but they can be guarded by the employment of the (following) expedients:
6. Let the (husband) employ his (wife) in the
collection and expenditure of his wealth, in keeping (everything) clean, in
(the fulfilment of) religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in
looking after the household utensils.
7. Women do not care for beauty, nor is their
attention fixed on age; (thinking), ‘(It is enough that) he is a man,’ they
give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly. (IX/14)
Thus according to RSS
women can only be subservient to males and have no independent existence. It is
shamelessly reflected in the organizational set-up of its organization. When
RSS was founded in 1925, it was to be an exclusive male organization (and
continues to be) where cadres were to be known as swayamsevak or volunteers. The RSS top brass made its intentions
clear of treating women as of lower status than males when it decided to start
its women wing; Rashtr Sevika Samiti
in 1936. Its nomenclature made it clear that women members were not called as swayamsevak or volunteers but Rashtr Sevika; maid/female servant of
the nation which was a Hindu nation.
Rawat liable to be
persecuted under sexual harassment laws of India
Indian Supreme Court defining the
sexual harassment in the landmark case of Vishaka and
others versus State of Rajasthan (AIR 1997 Supreme Court 3011) declared
‘Sexually colored remarks’ and ‘and any other unwelcome physical, verbal or
non-verbal conduct of sexual nature’ punishable. It is true that judgment covered
the work-places but the scope could cover the air journey which Rawat took with
the lady in ripped jeans. It is clear from the narrative that the way Rawat
described the lady in Dehradun meeting amounted to indulging in sexually
coloured remarks and verbal comments of sexual nature under the garb of the
‘Bhartiya’culture.
Moreover, the
section 354C of the Indian Penal Code specifically reads
that “Any man who watches or captures or
makes public an image of a woman engaged in a private act can be imprisoned for
his first offence for a minimum one year which may extend to three, and also be
liable to fine.” In fact, according to a senior police officer, Kerala Excise
Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh, “A case can be filed against men who 'annoyingly'
stare at women for more than 14 seconds…The stare need not really linger for a
full 14 seconds to make it an offence. It is an offence if it makes a woman
uncomfortable even for a few seconds. Womenfolk should come forward to register
complaints against such offenders”. The police must find out the lady to know
her version.
[https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/can-you-actually-go-jail-staring-woman-14-seconds-48461]
Rawat has also violated the
historic judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on the issue of individual’s
privacy. The bench, headed
by the chief justice JS Khehar, comprises justices J Chelameswar, SA Bobde, RK
Agrawal, RF Nariman, AM Sapre, DY Chandrachud, SK Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer in a
unanimous judgment in 2017 decreed that,
1. Life and personal liberty
are inalienable rights. These are rights which are inseparable from a dignified
human existence. The dignity of the individual, equality between human beings
and the quest for liberty are the foundational pillars of the Indian
Constitution.
2. Privacy includes at its core the preservation of personal
intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and
sexual orientation. Privacy also connotes a right to be left alone.
3. Personal choices governing a way of life are intrinsic to privacy.
Rawat as CM of Uttarakhand openly violated the above judgment and
needs to be booked for its violation too.
Such
person will go to Dark Hell: Swami Vivekananda
There is every likelihood that with the total hegemony of the
RSS-BJP rulers over administration, police and judiciary the Uttarakhand CM
would not be booked despite brazen violation of laws and Supreme Court
judgments on sexual harassment. However, as part of the top brass of the RSS he
must be familiar of the writings of Swami Vivekananda (regarded as saint of the
Hindutva). He must take note of what he wrote about a Hindu who even thinks of
a woman other than his wife. According to Swami, “He who thinks of another
woman besides his wife, if he touches her even with his mind-that man goes to
dark hell”.
[Vivekananda, Swami, The
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. i, p. 43.Advaita Ashrama,
Calcutta, 21st reprint 1995.]
Rawat
trained in RSS boudhik shivirs (intellectual
training camps) like any other RSS cadre keeps on boasting that Indian youth is
falling prey to the degenerated foreign material cultural ethos. For him it is
Hindutva culture amplified by works like MANUSMRITI)
which is divinely ordained. In this respect it would be pertinent to tell
semi-literate [a status worse than being illiterate] RSS cadres what Swami
wrote about the denigration of the material civilization.
“We talk foolishly against material civilisation.
The grapes are sour…How was it possible for the Hindus to have been conquered
by the Mohammedans? It was due to the Hindus' ignorance of material
civilization. Even the Mohammedans taught them to wear tailor-made clothes.” [Vivekananda, Swami, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
vol. iv, p. 368.Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 13th reprint 1995.]
It means that saree and dhoti touted as
true ‘Bhartiya’ attires only reflected the times when we did not know stitching
of the clothes. The time is not far-off when Tirath Singh Rawat and RSS would declare
Swami Vivekananda as anti-Hindu!
Shamsul Islam
25-03-2021
Link for some of S. Islam's writings in
English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati
and video interviews/debates:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: https://facebook.com/shamsul.islam.332
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
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