My thoughts on Modis I-Day speech about womens safety: Hes only saying that all, please note, after over a decade of extremely callous comments about women. Started getting more careful after hiring all those PR firms. Theres always a distinction between what one speaks on a podium and what one signs into law or executive order. I wont make any judgements right now; better to wait and see. Bolne ke liye toh koi bhi kuch bhi bol sakta hai. Leaders are put up there not to give grandiose speeches, but to DO things. https://youtube/watch?v=9J8ifuHyHjk Watch the Satyamev Jayate episode on Rape; they have clearly analysed the deep structural issues in Indias medical and justice system which are heavily biased in favour of rapists and due to which they get acquitted in over 90% cases. (seriously, I dare you to actually watch the whole thing). Today any guy committing a rape in India has more than 90% assurance that he shall never get punished. Whereas every woman who dares to blurt out that she was raped, has nearly 100% guarantee of punishment at every level of society. There are things that can be done at law & policy and procedural level immediately to fix this; most other countries that have a better record in safety for women have done these measures, human rights organizations (what, women are not human, kya?) have been trying to get the Parliament and State govts to pass them since years now and even now must be constantly trying to reach out to Modi to get them done. Will Modi do them? Kejriwal tried doing some of them, the Centre which controlled Delhi police refused to co-operate, he protested, and was immediately labeled a dramebaz. Till date hes the only CM in Indias recent history to have actually tried walking the talk on womens safety. Which I guess is another reason people hate him so much. But lets not go there, lets focus on who actually IS in power and has the authority. Will Modi DO something for womens safety, or will he simply give grandiose speeches and go back to the status quo? (which is : many of his own MPs might directly land in prison if he does what needs to be done!) Prior to election, several groups jointly published the Womanifesto which laid down the directives for governments to improve womens safety. All parties had endorsed it. Whats been done about that? Should women of India have to wait 5 years even before a bunch of executive orders and small procedural changes not requiring any passage of bills get signed?
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 03:14:04 +0000