As a Woman, How Can You Be a Modi Supporter?
Letter to an Erstwhile Friend
Hello.
It’s been a while since we last communicated, but a few things have been happening to our country that I felt like talking to you about. I hope that’s OK.
I am not sure if you are aware, but two of our women wrestlers who have brought international fame and medals to India, have now spent an entire month on the footpath at Jantar Mantar. They, along with hundreds of others, are protesting the Modi government’s unwillingness to take action against someone they say is a known sexual predator.
One of them is Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman wrestler ever, to win a medal at the Olympics. The other is Vinesh Phogat, a Commonwealth Games medalist, and cousin of the famous Babita and Geeta Phogat of Dangal fame. (We went to see that movie together when it first came out, remember? I recall wiping a tear or two when the national anthem played in the last scene.)
I’ve talked to Sakshi and her fellow wrestlers a few times now over the course of the past month. They are hurt, angry and genuinely mystified as to why the Prime Minister of India is choosing to ignore their pleas for help and refusing to take any action against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President of the Wrestling Federation of India and six-time BJP MP.
I, too, am appalled at Modi’s willingness to let accomplished athletes continue to sit on the street like this, but not surprised. Our Prime Minister has shown repeatedly over the years that he is expediency personified and only calls out wrongdoing when he realizes that not doing so will hurt him politically.
You and I have had a number of disagreements about Modi over the years. — You have been of the firm opinion that he is the best thing to ever have happened to India. I have held a view that is diametrically opposite. A year or so ago you categorically said there was no point in remaining friends anymore, since we will probably never see eye to eye on this matter. I agreed, reluctantly and sadly.
But since you have always considered yourself a firm proponent of women’s sashaktikaran (empowerment) and samaanata (equality) in a male-dominated society, I want to ask what you think about the Prime Minister of India not uttering a word of support to women who have taken the unimaginably difficult step of speaking out against sexual abuse.
As you are a firm supporter of Hindutva and a committed advocate of a Hindu rashtra, can you honestly say that you trust a prime minister who says ‘Beti bachaao, beti padhaao’ at every turn but looks the other way when it is time to take a powerful MP in his government to task?
Is this what Hindu rashtra is supposed to look like? It’s a serious question.
Over the past month, Sakshi, Vinesh and their comrades have braved a heatwave, storms, mosquitoes, sleepless nights and also abuse and assault by drunken policemen. Despite all of that, their protest is growing in size and strength. Thousands are coming daily to show their solidarity and support. — Farmers, women’s right organizations, students, and civil rights groups, to name just a few.
The mainstream media barely covers it, but I can honestly say I have never seen Jantar Mantar this crowded before. The last time I remember seeing it so full was at the time of the 2019 anti-CAA/NRC protests (which, incidentally, you also dismissed as just being a gathering of “biryani-eating Muslim women with nothing better to do”).
On the 23rd of May, one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures reaching 45 degrees, thousands marched to India Gate and held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with the wrestlers. It was heartening to see that the conscience of many is still alive and well.
Incidentally, I was able to ask Sakshi Malik what gives her the strength to keep going.
With tears in her eyes she replied, “A man came to the protest one day and put his 3-month-old baby girl in my arms. He said, ‘For her sake, please don’t quit till you have won. You are not just fighting for justice for the girls who have been abused by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, you are also fighting for a better and safer India for my daughter.’ How can I give up after an appeal like that?”
Do you realize that by supporting the BJP government and its leaders, you have cast in your lot with those who will never give women a place of true dignity in society? As a woman who has worked hard to buck deeply entrenched patriarchy in society, indeed, earned degree after degree in economics, gender studies and sociology, do you really want to be remembered as someone who ultimately took the side of those who follow the manusmriti?
Way back in 2014 I asked you how, as an educated and progressive person, you could possibly support a political party like the BJP with a leader like Modi? Your answer at the time was, “Time will tell.”
Nine years later, I wonder what your answer is.
