Intro: Upon analysis as to why various International countries are quick to pounce on rape cases within India, a very sinister conspiracy can be smelt at the root of it.
The documentary made by BBC’s Leslee Udwin named “India’s Daughter” which reflects on the plight of the Delhi Rape victim known by the name of 'Nirbhaya' created a controversy in the international arena. She was criticised in India for digressing from victim’s story, for her biased narrative, and for finding an opportunity in the Nirbhaya rape case for commercial purpose. The documentary reflected the filmmaker’s sinister attempt to tarnish India’s image in the Global arena.
If rape is an Indian problem, why are rapes happening all across the world. If a rape happens in USA or Britain, why is it not termed as a result of Britain’s or America’s rape culture? Is what I am trying to probe.
Since the past few years, the world’s attention has been focused on India. As per a study released by the National Intelligence Council of America in December 2012, India is poised to become one of the three largest and soundest functioning economies of the world by 2030. China and America are the other two. According to the cover story of The Economist dated April 5, 2013, India is gradually shaping up to be a world power.
In short, India has over the last few years started showing signs of transforming into a powerful economy. This is where the importance of Joseph Samuel Nye, a known American political analyst and Dean of John F Kennedy School under Harvard University comes to fore. America has been going full throttle on denuclearisation since the past few tears. Nye is the most powerful votary of the same. Nye advises that it is time to realise that in order to conquer the world, more than hard nuclear power what is required is the soft power of Universities like Harvard, and companies like Coca Cola etc.
With the advent of the Modi Government into power, we have come across the term ‘Soft Power’. We have been hearing very much about active social sites, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Internet, WiFi etc. off lately. The importance of Nye’s views that Soft power + Hard power = Smart power comes into picture here. India has also realised that Smart power is the key to the future. As part of the same, plans to develop smart cities with free Wifi facilities etc. have already featured in the annual budget. With such plans, we get an inkling of the path which we are likely to tread on our way to greatness. We are living in times when we have to project our strength ourselves. How to put a spanner in the works when India is looking to garner strength on the world stage by unleashing its economic / educational / software might on the world?
“India’s Daughter, Salute those thousands of brave Indians determined to fight the traditional Culture of misogyny”—Richard Dawkins, a famous Atheist.
When the world has began looking at India’s progress, the easiest way then is to block investments and tarnish the image making exercise known as ‘Branding India’ to deliver the deadly underbelly sucker punch in the form of portraying malaise on the country’s societal and political culture. This is where the term ‘Misogyny’ used by prominent atheist, Richard Dawkins in the quote mentioned above assumes prominence. Dawkins had used the term “Traditional culture of Misogyny” in his tweet which in effect means that India has been a culture with a tradition of disrespect towards women. The Natyashastra of Bharata forms a part of Gandharva Veda which is considered as a subsidiary of the Vedas-Natyashastra is a compilation of work by various sages but the tradition offers its authorship to sage Bharata. In this context, we should make the various sartorial descriptions and explanations of emotions as given in the Gandharva Veda, a subject of our study. Because, it is evident from Dawkins’s tweet that the past is going to be resurrected in the present. Among the many societies that can be found in the world, it is reflected that the most venerating regard for women has been found in Vedic culture.
Dawkins should realise that it was European culture which gifted India the dubious practice of disrespect towards women. The Indian mentality could be understood from the 13th century recordings of Marco Polo. It was in this very same land where Katsyayana’s Kamasutra took shape. What do the Kanyapuja and Suhasini puja of the Tantric texts show us? However, the western world did not take cognisance of a woman as a human being even as late as the seventh century!!! Even in England, the land of the BBC, which made the documentary called “India’s Daughter”, gave suffrage rights to women only in 1926. The importance which India accorded to women can be judged from the fact that it was a woman in the form of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi who spearheaded the revolution against British rule in 1857.
Cut to Nirbhaya-the Indian populace poured onto the streets in protest of the incident which happened with Jyoti Singhi (Nirbhaya) since it could not palate the same. This is because the blood of Rani Lakshmibai flows through the veins of the Indian populace. They are of the opinion that the Almighty resides in those places where the women folk are respected. Quite rightly, they saw the humiliation of the girl as the humiliation of the nation and took to streets. Richard Dawkins had tweeted yet another thing- “India’s Daughter: They punished her for violating their cultural traditions by going out in the evening with a man who was not family.” Was the cruel rape heaped on her just because her family members were not with her? Surely, the culprit did not entertain the thought as to whether her companion was her husband or not. When such wrong notions do the rounds, they do not reflect even an iota of the reality. The foreign media is in fact using “India's Daughter” for furthering their politico economic agendas. That is because they do not entertain a human outlook for the girl but a rather beastly sales attitude.
Please have a look at England’s score on this account which is sermonising on the issue. It will then be evident that it is not the feeling of love and empathy for Nirbhaya but some other sinister feeling which guides them. The statistics reveal that up to 71 per cent women and 57 per cent men are victims of sexual anarchy and abuse. According to the Times of India (www.timesofindia.com), around 72000 males in Britain are victims of sexual abuse. The Independent has released a report on crime in the United Kingdom dated March, 11, 2015. According to the report, there are around 1 lakh predatory victims of sex in the United Kingdom. But the conviction rate is a mere 1000. This is the official statistics as let out by their Ministry of Justice (The Home Office and the Office of National Statistics). The police have not been able to solve even one fourth of the legally registered 15670 cases. According to Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Equality for Women, these draconian statistics urge us to take drastic corrective measures immediately. This is the sad state of affairs of the so called developed country of Britain which is trying to sermonise us on the issue by filming and releasing the documentary called “India’s Daughter” worldwide.
This is where doubts arise as to probe reason behind such slander campaign. The Washington Post proclaims that sexual violence was endemic in India. The Reuters Trust Law Group named India one of the worst countries in the world for women. A Harvard Committee crafted strategies for adolescent education to change the Indian mindset about gender. It was getting a bit too much. Don't westerners look at their own records past and present and compare it with that of India? Are they not ashamed?
All such media articles are written under Hindu names. They describe that in Hindu culture, women are not accorded independent rights. This is where Joseph Nye’s concept of Soft power is being peddled by Harvard.
President Obama's visit to India riveted the world's attention on us. It was also a welcome relief to Obama himself who was under duress on various domestic issues. The concept of “Smart power” at work can be appreciated, if we go a little deeper and try to unravel the sponsors behind this campaign. Hillary Clinton is a strong votary of the Smart power philosophy which states that American hegemony coupled with its culture, military leadership, economic / science and technology ideas should all go together which also means that she shares the same viewpoint as Joseph Samuel Nye—“India’s Daughter” was sponsored by Vital Voice Global Partnership, an institution set up by Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright back in 1997. The Vice President of the Institution, Sinsidier wrote thus,— “India’s Daughter is not only a documentary on brutalities on women but also a commentary on cultural changes taking place across the world.”
Without taking such a line of thought, our populace took to the streets in support of ‘Nirbhaya’. Our's is the land which produced the likes of Rani Abbakka from Ullal in Kanataka, who valiantly fought and won against the Portuguese in the 16th century as well personalities like Rani Chennamma (1778-1829) who fought the British militarily for the first time. Our land also produced Rani Durgavati who stood up to the Mughal Empire. Those cultures which granted suffrage rights to their womenfolk well over a hundred years are today trying to preach us by taking moral high ground on cultural greatness. As regards Nirbhaya, this land of ours has enough people with grit and gumption to fight her case. We should not let Indians as a whole be stereotyped.
Acharya MR Rajesh (The writer is the founder of Kashyapa Veda Research Foundation, Calicut, Kerala)
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