The Sabarimala temple opened for public worship on October 17. Men threatened to lie down on the access route of the temple challenging women to walk over their bodies if they were keen to enter the shrine. It is truly bizarre that despite state support not a single woman between the ages of 10 and 50 have been able to enter the temple precincts till date.
The media reported the defeat of law by faith activists, while the country awakened to the realization that a little learning is a dangerous thing. High percentage of female literacy does not guarantee liberated minds. It is when literacy leads to higher education that internalizes gender sensitization that social progress and women’s liberation as well as men’s liberation can happen. For the appalling irony lies in the fact that women can be coerced, coaxed and even convinced to fight against the possibility of liberating themselves and claiming gender equality.
If the Sabarimala case is about the literate and illiterate masses used by patriarchal political parties for their invidious agenda of power and profit, what about the snowballing MeToo issue, recently triggered by Tanushree Dutta, an English speaking woman actor, belonging to the privileged class? When Amitabh Bachchan was asked about his reaction to Tanushree Dutta’s accusation of sexual harassment against Nana Patekar, he suavely remarked without any embarrassment, “I am neither Tanushree Dutta nor Nana Patekar”.
The MeToo movement is about exposing the pretentious sexual predators of privilege. As more and more women garner courage to join the movement, we will discover more and more male sexual predators in the garb of Prince Charming who initially can be avuncular, paternal or brotherly as they start stalking their targeted victim.
In fact the women present at the interview session were just preening and smiling and one almost clapped uncomprehendingly, as Big B who is generally cautious and diplomatic, made an unforgivable slip by making what he had imagined was a smart statement. Big B is too intelligent not to realize that he himself cracked his celluloid image by his flippant remark of not being Nana Patekar or Tanushree Dutta. His effort to redeem himself later by making a very stilted declaration about his concern about sexual harassment seemed more pathetic rather than convincing.
Salman Khan said he was not aware of Tanushree’s accusation so was not in a position to say anything, and the great Amir Khan, the split-image of integrity, said that such news was “really sad…but I don’t think I can comment”. Et tu brute. However, very recently, Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao declared unequivocally that they would not work with those who had been accused of sexual harassment.
They announced: “As creative people we have been committed to foregrounding and finding solutions to social issues, and at Aamir Khan Productions we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour of any kind. We strongly condemn any act of sexual harassment, and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases… We believe that this is an opportunity for the film industry to introspect and take concrete steps towards change. For far too long women have faced the brunt of sexual exploitation. It has to stop. In this regard we are committed to doing any and everything to make our film industry a safe and happy one to work in.”
Also we notice that female journalists have recently accused M J Akbar, a junior minister in the Central cabinet, of sexual harassment. When questioned about Akbar’s misconduct, Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister, was tight-lipped. The Women and Child Development Minister Menaka Gandhi and Textiles minister Smriti Irani did express support and concern but somehow such responses seem like mandatory lip-service which rarely leads to any significant result. Akbar initially denied the accusations and filed a defamation suit but evidently the case against him is so overwhelmingly strong, that he has stepped down from his ministerial berth.
The MeToo movement in India has just started; though belated it should not buckle under pressure from the state and allied institutionalised powers. So far it seems only English speaking India has been an integral part of the Me Too movement. Let us hope this will cause the trickle and ripple effects that will motivate the women of India to rise against sexual harassment and support gender justice and gender equality.
However, the situation is not so bleak yet. Shiny Ahuja’a career was ruined, Tarun Tejpal is still fighting a legal battle, and many have been jailed for sexual assault and rape. Sadly though, every day there are more and more reports of brutal sexual attacks on the female sex, from female infants brutalized in their own homes, girl children sexually exploited and women subjected to domestic violence and murder. This proves that females of all age groups are not safe within their own homes. The world is not a safe domain for women either. Women are raped and harassed in the public domain; they are sexually harassed at their workplaces and are sexually assaulted even when they avail of public transport from taxis to buses and trains.
As worship the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Kali during this festive season, will they be oblivious of the bizarre circumstances of women protesting against gender equality, the unabashed parading of proud women misogynists, women asking for justice against male predators and sex-related violence against women at home and in the world? Will the passionate pandal-hoppers ponder and pray to the Goddesses to promote gender equality as human beings have not been able to do so even in the 21st century?
(Concluded)
The writer is former Professor, Dept of English, Calcutta University.