Kapde nahi, Soch Badlo! (Change your attitude, not our clothes)

29th December, 2012. A grave day for the nation. The Delhi gang rape case victim succumbed to her injuries early today morning in Singapore. May her soul rest in peace. The whole country is in mourning. The protests continue. While conspiracy theories have been floating around regarding the reason for her being transported to Singapore, the government has been busy ensuring that no further untoward happenings occur by closing down the metro and other means of transport. A lot has been said and done in the last two weeks over the Delhi gang rape case, let me put in my 2 bit worth of opinion as well. We have all seen the students protesting at the India Gate, Jantar Mantar and other places, the Delhi police's shameful conduct towards them, the derogatory comments being passed on by worthless people dying for their 2 minutes of attention on prime time television. The whole week has been a media furore, with Arnab Goswami on Times Now leading the brigade.

The whole sensationalism started with Mr Abhijit Mukherjee, son of our current president Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, commenting on the student protestors at delhi, stating that, "These pretty women, dented and painted, who come for protests are not students. I have seen them talk on the television, usually women of that age are not students." He further went on to add that students going to discotheques think its fashionable to hold candles and protest. Dear Mr. Mukherjee, since when did you get a degree in psychology to comment on what people think? Also how is it relevant whether these women are students or not. If they aren't it just goes to show that the whole country is up in arms against your government and not just the students. Even if they aren't students, they are women. The same women who cannot walk on the streets in any part of our 'Incredible India' without fearing rape, be it day or night. The same women who are cursing their luck for being born as women in this patriarchal country where the people in power are so insensitive towards their issues. The same women who voted your father's government to power when he wasn't India's president. Dear sir, whoever said its okay for you to make such comments and then retract them at your convenience only because your PR agent advised you that its the best course of action to save your unworthy ass? No sir, its definitely not okay. If you cannot contribute any positive inputs towards this issue, atleast do not degrade our efforts by making such derogatory negative comments. You, son of the first citizen of India, son of the same president who pledged to protect the rights of every other citizen, including women, should know better than to say such worthless things on Television. Shame on you!

The second foot in mouth moment came when a certain Dr. Anita Shukla, an agricultural scientist at the Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, while addressing a seminar on 'Women’s Empowerment' (ironically)  in her capacity as the president of Lion’s Club on Wednesday, stated that women had misused the facilities and rights given to them. The rape victim's injuries were her own fault, she said. She further stated, "Had the girl simply surrendered when surrounded by six men, she would not have lost her intestine. Why was she out with her boyfriend at 10 pm?" Really? I haven't heard a more outrageous statement ever! I was as horrified as you are after hearing this. So we  are supposed to just lie there and take pleasure in the fact that 5-6 men are raping us all the while inserting rods, and god knows what else, inside us just to satiate their sadistic nature? I hope for your daughter's sake Mrs. shukla (I am assuming you are married and have a daughter, though I actually hope you don't in reality), that she never gets raped. You wouldn't be so eager to dole out such deplorable advice then, would you? What the victim was doing at 10 pm in the night with her boyfriend is irrelevant and none of your goddamn business. If you noticed she wasn't raping or murdering someone. Our's is a free democratic country and no where is it written in our constituition that women cannot roam on streets at 10 pm in the night, alone or otherwise. You being a woman, rather than fighting for our cause, fighting for our rights, rather than empathizing with us, you make such atrocious comments. You are a disgrace to our whole race and your own profession. Shame on you!

What takes the cherry on the cake is CPM leader Mr. Rahman's derogatory comments towards Mamta Banerjee at a rally which ended with him asking the question, "How much will Didimoni take for getting raped?" This coming from a supposedly senior leader of a government party against a chief minister. If someone like the chief minister cannot escape the mindlessness of such disdainful comments, how can we, the common woman, even expect otherwise? But that isn't all. Mamata Banerjee's government isn't very far behind in this race of shame.When the park street rape incident was first reported in the media in february, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the case as a fabrication constructed to embarrass her government. And just yesterday a MP from the Trinamool Congress party, Dr. Kakoli Ghosh said that the park street case wasn't a rape case, it was a misunderstanding between the victim and her 'client'. Shocking! My heart goes out to the victim who besides having to deal with the mental and physical wounds constituting from the rape, also has to hear herself being degraded and indirectly being called a whore on national television. Way to go Dr. Kakoli Ghosh! Can you for a few moments please place yourself in the victim's shoe and understand what she's gone through before opening your mouth to spout shit? No? Aah very well, congratulations then.You just joined the list of disgrace along with Mr Abhijit Mukherjee, Dr. Anita shukla and several others. Shame on you!

Incredible India, my ass! After all this how can we even blame the 18 year old Patiala gang rape case victim for committing suicide? Who wouldn't? Though am sure as hell not justifying suicide. What saddens me the most is the fact that half of these comments have been made by women. This just shows the mindset of the people in our country. Not just the men, but even the women. Ours being a Patriarchal society, we have been brought up with a strict set of old school rules and mindset. This has somehow led us to think that getting raped is the fault of the victim. How can you justify rape by putting the blame on the victim for wearing short clothes or staying out till late? We have all seen that women get raped even during the day, even when they are fully clothed and even when they are accompanied by someone. What do they do then? Lock themselves in their rooms throughout their lives? Surely if people had brought their children up with a freer set of rules, an open mindset, and helped them develop a conscience, we would definitely have not come to see this day. Finally it all comes down to education, the need of the hour. We need to start at the grass roots before aiming big and starting large revolutions. We need to change our own mentality, our own ethos. We need to develop a conscience.

We want freedom. We want a country where we can roam around at at any time of the night wearing any kind of clothes without fearing rape. We want a country where our parents do not restrict us from going out late at night, where they do not allow us to wear shorts, just because they are scared that we will get raped. We want a country where we won't be called whores for wanting to do all the above things. Let us hope that all this is possible. Let us start believing that there's no excuse for rape whatsoever and that its never the victim's fault. Teach your kids to respect women, teach them to behave, teach them to change their attitude. Unless this issue is addressed we cannot expect rapes to stop inspite of harsh punishments. And yes, harsh punishments are needed. Castration, public humiliation, death penalty, fast track courts and more should be brought into immediate effect by the government. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Now is not the time to be squeamish. The governments needs to take aggressive steps to achieve all this and more if it wants to remain in power and even otherwise. For once stop thinking about your bloody vote banks! If not, expect your government to be toppled sooner than later. After all, We are the world's largest democracy, aren't we? Of the people, For the people, By the people. Lets not forget that. Till then let the protests continue. Let this revolution change India!