The Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of parliament (MP) Mr. Tapas Pal was in the news for all the wrong reasons. During one of his speeches, he threatened to kill CPM (opposition party in West Bengal) workers and get their women raped by his boys. The statement as such is derogatory and offensive, very insulting to women, and a threat of violence. He is inciting people to engage in violent activities like murder and rape, so, this is not about his freedom of expression right as this right doesn't include incitement of violence. No surprise that there was a huge uproar in the media against his statement. This was not the first time he made such a statement, it seems in the past also he said something similar which went unnoticed by the media. This guy is one of the lawmakers of our country, such people sit in our parliament and decide what is good for the people of our country. If people with such regressive and criminal mindsets are sitting in our parliament then one can imagine what can be the situation of law and order on the ground.
Here also the usual circus happened. First, there was uproar in public against his statement, second, media debates happened to sensationalize the issue, and finally, Tapas offered an unconditional apology and nothing happened beyond that. He was not sacked, and so far parliament hasn't taken any action against such remarks by one of its members. I am sure Mr. Tapas will continue as Trinamool's MP and will complete his term without facing any political consequences for his actions. This storm will also die and everyone will continue as if nothing happened. All other political parties who are up in arms currently also have many skeletons in their own closets, they all need to take some action against someone but nothing that sort will happen. It seems some MP or minister or leader from every party is busy making some regressive statements to justify and encourage rape culture. A recent Goa minister's statement about banning bikinis on Goa beaches, or stopping girls from going to pub because he thinks it's against Indian culture is another example of putting blame on the victim in the cases of sexual assault. This trend is disturbing and so far no political party has taken any serious action against any person who made such statements. This clearly shows their casual attitude towards this issue. They all speak all the time about women's safety and empowerment, and they all make very tall promises about this in their manifestos but in reality, their actions don't match their words.
The statements made by all these people are bad enough but the reaction of the political parties to which they belong or the institutions which they represent (like parliament or assembly) is even worse. We all know the hypocritical behavior of all these political parties but it seems even the hands of powerful institutions like parliament and judiciary are also tied in these matters as they fail to take any disciplinary action against these people. These people shamelessly make such statements and then offer an apology, that too only in some cases apology is offered, most of the time they claim they were quoted out of context. They all feel that such excuses are enough to bury the issue and move on. When people see politicians making such statements and getting away with it, it conveys a wrong message. Will it help to stop rape culture? Definitely NO. We need to be more sensitive against any such remarks, they should not be encouraged. There is no strong deterrent now that can stop powerful people from doing these things. They all know that nothing will happen to them except some bad publicity. Attempt to incite violence must have some consequence. I hope our judiciary and parliament don't fail us again this time. They need to set some precedence. Just an apology is not enough, strong action against such behavior is required if we expect them to stop. If we fail then we will see another statement like this in the media after a few days or months, the name and the political party may change but the statements won't, they will keep on coming and we will keep on wondering why criminalization or politics doesn't stop and why so many rapes keep on happening?
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
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