Manipur is burning yet again. What started out as a demand
for action against the brutal assault on a film actor and firing at two other
artistes during the course of a musical program held at Chandel district is
slowly taking on dark shades of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. As the circle of violence spirals out on the streets,
fuelled partly by passions whipped up by impassioned speeches and followed up
on the streets of Imphal and other valley districts, by people not necessarily
engaged in the ways and means of protesting against violence against women but
out to ‘have a good time’, each of us need to recognize the potential damages
that lay in store. If the ways of the ongoing protests and their direction is
not toned down in terms of what it is directed against, all it would take to
spark an uncontrollable conflict would be a random act of violence aimed at
particular community or vice versa.
There is a need to assess if the anger on the streets is
because a woman’s dignity was compromised in public or whether it is on account
of the fact that the said accused person is of a particular ethnic community
belonging to an armed group that is currently in peace talks with the
Government of India. There can be no condoning of what happened to the film
actor but what one individual has done cannot be held accountable against an
entire community. That the accused happens to belong to an armed group that’s
had a track record of violating the terms of its talks with the Government of
India is well documented. But to target public ire against an entire community
would only fragment ties between communities that have lived together and
forego the matter of what needs to be done to ensure that the safety and
dignity of women are not compromised by anyone, no matter what caste or creed,
identity or religion.
If the people of Manipur do decide to take a stand of ‘zero
tolerance’ against all cases of violence against women following this incident,
there is nothing like it. But if the anger and the indignation remain limited
for this particular incident, it smacks of a lack of maturity and ironically,
paints every person in such a light. The imposition of an indefinite bandh in
the state has affected every person in their free movement but for those who
were looking forward to the spirit of Christmas with its holy fervor and
merry-making, it could not have been more badly timed. That logic and reasoning
has no place when emotions are stoked needs no further validation. The schism
between people leading the protest has reared its head with organizational
heads calling for making space for the humaneness that is due to a community’s
largest and most symbolic festival of Christmas by suspending protests till the
festival gets over while individual voices are adamant to enforce the protests
and continue with it. Taking the step of suspending protests till Christmas got
over would have been a significant gesture and a measure of respect for people
who follow a different faith and in no way would have compromised the call for
due punishment against the accused.
Elsewhere too, in another extension of public rage and its
after effects, Delhi has been seeing widespread protests over the brutal rape
of a girl in a moving bus. For 3 days now, protestors have stormed heavily
fortressed areas in the Capital, right from Parliament Street to the Chief
Minister’s House. There have been outbreaks of violence between the police and
the protestors but no real bullets have been fired. In Manipur, a journalist
working as a stringer for news channels and who was filming a protest and the
subsequent police firing, first of tear gas shells and then real bullets was
caught square in his chest. Video footage from the deceased journalist’s camera
show how one state police personnel took aim and shot at him. While there can
be no acceptable explanation for the police action of shooting anyone without
prior warning regardless of whether the victim is a civilian or a journalist
doing his duty, people on the streets ought to bear in mind that there is no
greater harm than what fear, suspicion and intimidation can do in an
environment as fraught as the one we see before us. Sane voices should step in
to ensure that things do not get out of hand. Those protesting against the Chandel incident, which has
been termed an “inhuman act” must realize the dangers of becoming inhuman
themselves.
This is terrible! Please stay safe and don't take unnecessary risks.
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