WOMEN have been special targets of communalist
ideology and communalist violence. Most scholars
engaged in gender studies and activists of women's
movements have emphasised the role of communalist
ideology in strengthening patriarchy and have
shown how women have been specially targeted
in communal violence. The Gujarat genocide of
Muslims in 2002 seemed, in many ways, an unprecedented
and culminating stage in this trend: the incidence
and scale of rapes pointed towards deliberate
barbarism, having mass complicity and approval
of a very large section of Gujarat society,
and not just an aberration on the part of some
depraved, individual men. The acts were committed
in full public gaze, often in front of the children
of the women concerned. There is no guarantee
by the state and no system in place to ensure
that it does not happen again.
No public regret has been voiced to date in
Gujarat or elsewhere despite the data and concrete
evidence provided by women's and other concerned
citizens' groups.
DOMINANT FEELING: FEAR
A very great many of those women and children
were burnt alive after these horrendous acts,
but a great many continue to live equally horrendous
lives: having survived the experience, and yet
not having survived it. They live haunted lives,
still fearful, and without hope of getting back
to normalcy: neither the state nor the larger
society in the state has done anything about
it. Gujarat 2006 is therefore not much better
for them than 2002 was. Most reports on the
situation in Gujarat, and testimonies of survivors
at various conventions, show that fear is the
dominant emotion in the life of Gujarati Muslims,
particularly Gujarati Muslim women. An Amnesty
International report of 2005 says: "They
tread quietly and try to keep a low profile,
because even small altercations with members
of the majority community can easily become
serious? verbal abuse has the danger of becoming
physical at any time?There is no provision for
security." The situation is not any different
a year later in 2006.
On its part, the UPA government cannot claim
that it has done anything to rehabilitate or
in any way improve the life for the women and
children survivors of 2002 atrocities, while
the Modi government does not think they even
merit being considered for any special help,
rehabilitation or compensation. "For us
all are equal," declares Narendra Modi,
as brazen as ever.
The economic boycott of Muslims and destroyed
sources of livelihood have placed a double burden
on women. Loss of jobs for men has meant that
women have even less to eat in the family. Losses
of assets in the form of land in villages (most
have not been able to return) and shops etc
in urban areas have not been compensated for.
Fear, with lack of security, has led to women
being forced to stay home, girl children remaining
withdrawn from schools, and a tremendous rise
in the number of women headed households in
cases where the men of the concerned families
were killed in 2002. Those who have not been
able to return home have lost their traditional
support system of family and the larger kinship
networks. Most are in no position to find suitable
work, in terms of skills, or in the given political
and social situation in terms of self-confidence.
Destitution among women and children is on the
increase, and an unusually large number are
surviving on charity from the community or from
NGOs. They can hardly use their old ration cards,
far way as they are from their earlier places
of residences. Many have no documentation of
identification left with them. The few who have
managed to return find it difficult to use the
public services such as community taps, wells
or electricity. They are forced to give precedence
to others.
GREATER BURDEN ON HINDU WOMEN
One can give a thousand and one details of how
life is so terrible for them, and we are not
even speaking of the impact on health, psyche
and life choices. Protectiveness has led to
curtailment of their rights, greater exclusion
from public life, and conservatism within the
community which impacts adversely on women.
The UPA government has not taken the trouble
to even tabulate the data, leave alone take
any remedial action.
The Hindu women have not gained in all this.
The violence against Muslims has contributed
to an increase in violence in general, and there
are reports of trishuls (tridents) obtained
at the arms training camps of the Bajrang dal
being used on Hindu women back home. The atmosphere
of aggression and communal campaigns has resulted
in a general feeling of insecurity, while Hindutva
propaganda has placed the heavy burden of tradition
on Hindu women, as builders of home and family
primarily, and as trainers of future Hindutva
activists as nurturers.
The participation of Hindu women in the 2002
killings was particularly noted by women's organisations.
For several years women are being activated
along lines of religious affiliation by the
Sangh Parivar, and their influence through social
and religious community functions and celebrations
has made possible extensive organisational networks
among women, especially among middle class Hindu
women. Population myths like 'hum paanch, hamare
pachees' has helped mobilise women as well as
ensured household chores, defence of tradition
and motherhood as primary roles for Hindu women
--- with the acquiescence of these women themselves.
This has also created strong polarisation along
class lines, as tribal, dalit and other poor
women cannot afford to subscribe to the values
of family and motherhood alone. Communalism
is thus a tool for restricting women's roles
as well as making them active agents for the
values the RSS stands for. Everyday social existence,
as determined by the Sangh Parivar, has increased
the distance among women of different communities,
with no scope for meeting one another and questioning
their own prejudices, or those being deliberately
inculcated among them by the Sangh propaganda
machinery. The inculcation of Hinduised religious
rituals among tribals has meant greater subjugation
of women in many cases, although this is not
to suggest that women enjoy equality with men
in tribal society.
Globalisation and its impact too has contributed
to the increased social distance between different
sections of women and created differing perceptions
of what is good for the society and for the
nation.
CHILDREN LOSING CHILDHOOD
In such an atmosphere one can hardly expect
children to grow up as children should. Muslim
children are actually losing out on childhood,
and all children are losing out on a composite,
expansive, democratic vision of the world and
society they live in. Muslim children who lost
admissions during riots have by and large not
been able to return to schools, and destitution
makes the return almost impossible for a great
many of them. Again, the UPA government has
not bothered to obtain data on this, and the
situation is worse than what most of the people
imagine. The school curricula, particularly
social science textbooks, are contributing to
distortion of the psyche of children of all
communities, and the general dominance of the
Hindutva discourse in society and Hindutva propaganda
on the streets in Gujarat holds greater dangers
for the country than what most people realise.
Gujarat needs more than mere compensation and
rehabilitation for victims of 2002. But, sadly,
even this minimum is not forthcoming: we cannot
expect Narendra Modi to provide justice if the
UPA government is not even demanding it. There
is a need to hold the UPA accountable for Gujarat
2006, just as Modi is accountable for Gujarat
2002.
