India and Bharat - are they different?

Recent remarks by RSS chief Mr. Mohanrao Bhagwat that rapes are prevalent in India (by this he means a more liberal and modern population), not in Bharat (a rural, more conservative, or traditional part of India) created a lot of controversy in the media. Many people found it very controversial. Even Asaram Bapu said something very stupid in this regard. Personally, I was not very surprised after reading this comment as this type of mindset is still prevalent in even educated people in India and Mr. Bhagvat is representative of that conservative mindset. I have seen a lot of good work done by RSS, they try to instill a feeling of patriotism among people at the same time they are heavily biased toward Hinduism and are instrumental in spreading communal divide based on religion. They don't hide their close association with Hinduism. This is one of their major handicaps like many other organizations that associate themselves exclusively with a particular religion and feel the compulsion to defend each and everything mentioned in their scriptures and try to reinforce their traditions and culture. This particular comment comes from that mindset, where they believe a traditional, conservative society is better for women. Women should stay indoors, they are supposed to take care of their homes and families and cover themselves. Earning or doing a job is not considered a woman's responsibility. 

This statement by Mr. Bhagwat clearly doesn't make any sense. Actually, this shows that he is totally out of touch with reality. Every society has rich (more affluent) and poor sections, in India the difference is more contrast. Very often rich people follow a more liberal lifestyle, and this is somehow blamed on the Western influence. There is no logic behind this, it's a pathetic attempt to blame some outsider for things that one can not avoid or control. In today's world with modern and sophisticated modes of communication interaction between different cultures and societies is more common. People adopt whatever suits them. The exchange of ideas, traditions, and customs is very easy and common and no one can stop this. Whatever is good and relevant to people's needs will survive and other things will go away. Some bad elements will also creep in and will stay, but this was the case all the time. At every point in time in every society in our history, we had good customs and traditions and also bad ones. Today's society is not very different in that way. We are much more well equipped as far as technology and resources are concerned and it can do wonders if we can use it to our advantage.

This logic of India and Bharat is an indirect attempt to criticize the more affluent section of Indian society for their more liberal lifestyle. Women are generally more independent in these societies and also more outgoing. This criticism is mainly directed towards these independent women. According to his statement, such independent women only live in India but not in Bharat. It sounds very illogical and weird but it seems this is how Mr. Bhagwat thinks. While making this comment I wonder how Mr. Bhagwat conveniently forgot the situation of women in his so-called Bharat, where they are raped, molested, burned, and killed every day. Their situation is not very different than other parts of the country. The law and order situation is even worse in these places compared to cities. Just because women stay mostly indoors, do conventional jobs, they don't wear Western clothes doesn't mean they are safer and well-protected or well-cultured than women who do these things. I really wonder how people still believe and live with these types of illusions.

What type of world do they want to live in? Why are they so against independent and strong women? Why do they feel that women are supposed to do only certain types of work? Why are they not willing to give them equal treatment and the respect they deserve? There are many questions like this and I know what answers these people will give to most of these questions, but even then we need to ask these questions and argue with them because these people who think like this are part of our society and we can not neglect or ignore them. We need to question them. We need to argue with them and try to convince them. We should share our views about equality and women's empowerment with them. We all need to pay our part in bringing this change, unless the whole society is transformed this change will not come and our job is not done. If we brand them as conservatives and backward, ignore or neglect them, then we will be making the same mistake that organized religion did with nonbelievers. We need to talk with them, understand their views, and show them the other side of the coin, sounds very tough but there is no other way.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

References:
1. Rapes prevalent in India not in Bharat- The Hindu
2. Rapes occur in India not Bharat-Bhagwat-TOI
3. Marriage is like contract between husband wife-Mohan Bhagwat (TOI)
4. Delhi gang rape victim as guilty as her rapists-Asaram Bapu (TOI)