Ayushman Jamwal
It is cause and effect. Horrible cases of assault, harassment molestation, sexism and misogyny, followed by mainstream and social media flooded with witty, eloquent messages of anger. The narrative follows the evolutionary pattern of arrests, condemnation and the same-old obnoxious statements from the same-old politicians. The television and the internet continues to scream ‘Shame! Shame!’. Chauvinists and crusaders make enlightened, vile, insensitive remarks; there is rage against police lethargy as well as hilarious parodies, poetry, art and viral videos. A ‘Carnival of Outrage’ via prime time, hashtags and liberated online opinion that slowly disappears.
We have been part of the circus many times, shadow boxing with the elusive evil of apathy. Disgust and trite indignation is our habit with a prescribed social response, and so indifference has found a place in our routine – delivering the same message again and again, a strange comfort in ‘Likes’, ‘Shares’, and ‘Retweets’. Has the real battle become so hard that we draw relief from the validation of the banal online ether and the righteous newsman whose fancies and narratives keep shifting?
The dirty male neta and the insensitive cop are the evergreen villains of this drama, but the most powerful female leaders of our nation abdicate their responsibility when the angry citizenry yearns for justice.
There are 64 female MPs in the Lok Sabha and 27 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, the highest in the history of independent India. The Union Cabinet has 8 female ministers, also the highest in independent India. The Indian National Congress – the second largest party in Parliament and oldest party in India is run by a woman, which also controls governments in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram and Meghalaya. The TMC and the BSP, two major political players on the national scene are also controlled by women.
All these female leaders are invisible in the battle for women’s rights, driven more by political calculation than the aspirations of the millions they claim to represent. Whenever we are revisited by cases where women are victimised, we attack the ‘mindset’ and male authorities, yet we draw the line there. Female political leaders are the potent, powerful and natural voices of that struggle, yet their indifference is garbed in the ‘Carnival of Outrage’ which never seems to bother us. We remain in the patriarchal hold that men are the only true oppressors and liberators of women.
These same leaders never lead the fight for empowering the National or State Women’s Commissions, which continue to be ceremonial organisations, without the power or the purse to fight for justice. Sending letters, notices and giving soundbites seems to be the only ‘action’ these bodies can take.
The trend is neglect by female political leaders and one must wonder if the popular call for the Women’s Reservation Bill will deliver expected results. Will more female representatives in legislative bodies truly deliver empowerment and security? Will they tow the party line or will they move beyond the political parameter, and see basic proactivity as a matter of great urgency? The doubt persists as does the cycle of ire and branding villains where we never truly step-up the attack, always punching in the air, never focusing, never sustaining the campaign, never expanding the borders of the battlefield.
There will be multiple incidents to set up the ‘Carnival of Outrage’. Women who have struggled to become powerful in the male controlled Indian political realm are as apathetic if not cruel as the misogynist, yet are shielded from the fury. Their disregard of the plight of women is not seen as objectionable as it does not fit the normal narrative, even if their inaction does a great deal to perpetuate the patriarchy that suppresses women. Men are no longer sole oppressors and liberators and the 24-hour news media and shifting online space is no longer the crusader’s platform. Sustain the anger, broaden the battlefield – move beyond the Carnival of Outrage.
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