Power and Exploitation : Does being in power give BJP leaders a free hand to rape and harass women

 

A day after being charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for the alleged gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the Haridwar district, Aditya Raj Saini, a party leader, was expelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Uttarakhand on June 26. Aditya had served as a state executive member of the OBC Morcha within the Uttarakhand BJP. According to The Indian Express, he was also a member of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission.

In addition, BS Yediyurappa, a top BJP leader and former chief minister of Karnataka, has been charged under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act for allegedly sexually abusing a young girl.

MP Prajwal Revanna of Karnataka, who is not directly linked to the BJP, caused controversy when it was alleged that he appeared in films harassing women in the state. He is also involved in the most recent case, where Prajwal Revanna, a sitting MP from Karnataka and a member of the NDA coalition, has been accused of creating approximately 3,000 recordings showing women being sexually abused or exploited. Revanna is reportedly fleeing the nation.

However, our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, remained silent about this dark sex scandal in the nation for several days. Furthermore, there has been no comment from female BJP officials denouncing these sexual attacks. This lack of response is not surprising, considering that during their entire ten-year administration, the BJP and Modi have defended individuals guilty of crimes against women. A request by the state government calls for the cancellation of Prajwal’s diplomatic passport, but it has not yet been withdrawn by the Modi administration.

In 2017, four BJP leaders—Shantilal Solanki, Govind Parumalani, Ajit Ramvani, and Vasant Bhanushali—were charged with gang rape by a 24-year-old woman. Allegedly, after recording the rape, the offenders threatened her and forced her into prostitution.

Sakhsham Patel, Abhishek Chauhan, and Kunal Pandey—members of the BJP IT cell—were accused of rape. The Congress party questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence regarding their apprehension.

Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT cell, faced charges of sexual exploitation. Supriya Shrinate, a Congress leader, cited instances of him sexually harassing women in BJP offices in West Bengal and five-star hotels.

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the head of the Wrestling Federation of India, became the subject of another heartbreaking story that the country had to grapple with. He faced charges of sexually abusing multiple female wrestlers. Despite public outrage, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh continues to move around freely without consequences.

G. Devarajegowda, a BJP politician, was arrested for violating privacy, voyeurism, and sexual harassment. MP Prajwal Revanna and DK Shivakumar were involved in the case.

In 2019, a law student in Uttar Pradesh accused former Union Minister and BJP politician Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment. His arrest followed the case, which garnered significant attention. The student provided videos as evidence, which the police eventually received.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP member at the time, was found guilty of raping a young girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from the politicians mentioned above, several BJP officials have been accused of serious cases of corruption, bribery and sexual harassment. BJP has been constantly accused of providing safe haven to MPs who are under investigation for corruption and sexual harassment. Despite the BJP’s slogans related to women’s empowerment like "Nari Shakti", "Beti Bachao" and "Beti Padhao", the BJP's record on women's issues has not been good since coming to power , especially in the case of crimes against women.

According to the latest findings of a report released by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR's report is essential for improving accountability and transparency in Indian politics), 134 MPs and MLAs currently in office in India have been accused of crimes against women. Out of these, 44 MPs and MLAs from the BJP are the ones who are currently in office and have similar cases registered against them.

The BJP has actively tried to defend leaders accused of rape while it is in power nationally and in many states. It will not be surprising that the BJP currently has a very high number of MPs with criminal cases, while it is considered that it has become the largest party in the world.

Even the National Commission for Women (NCW), an important government agency tasked with dealing with sexual harassment against women, has long been criticised for its lack of action in addressing the problems of harassment of women.

What to expect from other BJP leaders, as our Prime Minister Modi too does not shy away from making comments that many have construed as misogynistic. In an address in 2018, he called Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi a "widow". "Which Congress widow was this in whose account the money used to go?" he asked. PM Modi has not spared the families of politicians either. During his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, he was accused of calling Trivandrum Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar  "a 50 crore girlfriend".

Similarly, when rumours of actress Sapna Choudhary joining the Congress surfaced in 2019, Giriraj Singh made a very derogatory remark about her, saying, "Rahul's mother was also in the same profession in Italy and his father adopted her." Rahul Gandhi should carry forward the family legacy and adopt Sapna as his own.

According to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 52.5 crimes against women per one lakh people in 2014. By 2021, the number of crimes against women increased to 64.5 per lakh. By 2021, more than 90 rapes occurred daily. Over 3,15,215 incidents of crime against women were reported in 2017. In 2022, it increased to around 3,65,300. The rate of crimes against women has increased significantly in the last six years at 15.88 percent. Additionally, since 2017, NCRB data has shown a 94.47 percent increase in sexual crimes against minors. From 2017 to 2022, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of crimes against women for six consecutive times.

Rajasthan ranked second in crimes against women from 2019 to 2022. The two states with the highest rate of crime against women in 2022 were Delhi and Haryana. In such a situation, it would not be wrong to say that if the party leaders are involved in heinous crimes like rape and harassment of women, it would be foolish to expect them to protect women in the country.

Also, how can we ignore the sexual assault and naked parade of women that took place during the tenure of the BJP state government in Manipur? There is still no stop to the violence. Even the Modi-Shah government has not ignored the demand for the resignation of the BJP Chief Minister. Since the BJP government at the Center confused this problem with the problem of other parties, they neglected to talk about it in Parliament.

Narendra Modi's government made bold promises when it came to power, promising to improve the condition of Indian women and tackle the epidemic of sexual harassment. But things have gotten worse for women under Modi's leadership because of the misogynistic mindset that pervades all levels of society. However, the impact of its divisive communal politics on women calls into question the BJP's claim to effectively tackle gender inequality. The last ten years have seen a dramatic rise in honour killings in India, with BJP-ruled states leading the way.

Once again, these so-called women protectors and empowerers are in positions of authority, abusing their influence and abusing women with a brutality never seen before. Even though the victims of this violence will never be able to live their old lives again. It is impossible to adequately express the pain, humiliation and suffering that the victims, their families and their loved ones have to endure.