Asaram Bapu’s statement that the 23-year old woman who died after being gang-raped in Delhi last month was as much at fault as her offenders is shameful coming from a spiritual guru who is seen as a role model by his huge fan following, both in India and abroad.
Asaram Bapu’s statement that the 23-year old woman who died after being gang-raped in Delhi last month was as much at fault as her offenders is shameful coming from a spiritual guru who is seen as a role model by his huge fan following, both in India and abroad. Indeed, the epidemic of sexist outbursts that has followed the gang-rape is all the worse for originating from men and women in leadership roles who are self-avowedly committed to public service and the betterment of society. Tragically, their notions of what constitutes an ideal society appear rooted in the very prejudices that have engendered a culture of violence against women, the Delhi incident being its most recent and horrific manifestation. This illiberal pack — made up of politicians, social leaders and now godmen — has expressed itself with gusto, with no regard for the young life that was so cruelly and so needlessly extinguished. Not surprisingly, these “leaders” are also impervious to the anger and revulsion their views have generated.
Up until now, it was the political class speaking as if there was no tomorrow: from the President’s son Abhijit Mukherjee and Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana to Bharatiya Janata Party minister from Madhya Pradesh Kailash Vijayvargiya and chairperson of the Chhattisgarh State Women’s Commission Vibha Rao, each has spoken in an idiom more in sync with patriarchal definitions of the woman’s place than reflective of their own supposed status as enlightened leaders. For his part, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Mohan Bhagwat gave a predictable spin to the gang-rape, setting it as an urban phenomenon that conflicted with the pristine ethos of Bharat. The divide between India and Bharat is a piece of fiction because violence against women is endemic to rural India with its worst victims drawn from the lowest rungs of the economic and caste ladder. And yet, incredible as it might seem, the explosion of regressive thoughts has paled in comparison to the atrocious suggestion made by Asaram Bapu that the Delhi woman virtually invited the rape. “A mistake is not committed by just one side,” he said, adding that she should have sought refuge in prayer and begged her offenders to stop. For anyone to speak so disparagingly of women is unacceptable, and it is a disgrace when a man of religion stoops so low. Asaram deserves to be condemned in the strongest words by the community of religious leaders and it is heartening to note that a number of godmen have indeed spoken out. Sadly, we have yet to hear the high command of the Congress and the BJP publicly condemn those from within their flock who have made the most offensive anti-women statements over the past three weeks.
Keywords: Delhi gang-rape, Asaram Bapu, spiritual guru
The reaction which the stand taken up by many, for women's right to
lead a life with dignity and peace of mind, is getting from the
ideologues of the most retrograde sections of the society. Is mainly
because of the fact that they expand or try to expand, the sphere in
which women exist leave alone security and dignity. The whole
opposition is aimed at stopping this particular movement from taking a
socio-cultural ground because as far as this movement remains confined
to the legal aspect it will have partial effect, i don't really need
to talk about the obedience which law commands in the country. Here
what is of great help is that these reactions from various places will
lead to the broadening of the movement, which is quintessential for it
to bear any fruit. I believe that after a very short time we would not
hear that women were worshiped in India and this realization would be
the biggest achievement of this whole process, allowing women to live
instead of being idol worshiped
Asaram will never realize God. Goddess Durga has taken avatar to kill
the demons. When Nagusa, the most revered King, even by the
Devlokvasis fell to disgrace because he had overwhelming desire for
Indirani, Sasi. It is the fundamental right of "Nirbhaya" to refuse to
yield to anyone's lust other than her own choice. Constitution
guarantees freedom to all Indians alike. Or those women and girls, who
fought for freedom along with men, were fools? Which man, however
mighty he may be, had come into this world without the contribution of
a mother? All girl babies are potential mothers. We have to protect
them keeping this in mind. Lots of my friends, for their well
qualified and earning sons are unable to find a girl for marriage. Let
us face the realities.
For a long time in Human history, religion has been an arbiter of
moral values. In the early days, when man had to struggle to make a
living, the average man had little time to think about values. It
was during this period great thinkers like Jesus, Mohamad and Vedic
Scholars thought about values and evolved codes of conduct. And
since the common man could not be made aware of these by reason, the
seers communicated them using prescriptive written codes eg Satyam
vada.
Over this long travel through history, the situation has changed.
The common man is able to think about values, while those in
established religion still cling on to the written texts and are
unable to think. The objection of catholic church to gay marriages
abortion etc is well documented. And in India, the many a god-men
prey on the gullible to make a fast buck.
Let us throw this outmoded system in its entirety out of the window.
We were born as Hindus, Moslems..; let us learn to live as human
beings first and last.
It is really ridiculous how these so-called upholders of tradition cherry-pick what
they want from their "traditions". Witness our ideal model of the "Bharatiya Nari",
namely Sita. The Hindutva brigade have Deepika as their ideal Sita, complete with
the purdah, a Muslim practice.
That the mores in pre-Islam India were much more liberal, both sexual as well as
otherwise and that Sita must have been a woman of forceful will (witness her
command over both Rama as well as Ravana) who chose her own husband are facts
that are conveniently forgotten. Evidently, one is happy to pick whatever suits
one's own ideology. Sita if she were to appear in modern India in her traditional
costume would run the risk of being catcalled and gangraped by men branding her
as skimpily dressed and hence as fair game.
While women did not fare well even in the past, the situation is worsened by the
insistence of the traditionalists to pick the worst practices of each bygone era.
Mother India I am very sorry My fellow Indians have not evolved.Atleast as Human Beings.
How illogical are the comments passed by politicians and so Called Religious Gurus. What is more painful is that there are educated people and those from respectable families who support his Gender Bias.
It is the need of the hour to educate our politicians. Enough are the great Reforms and plans they have put successful on papers and failed on Real life. We need to make amendments to the constitution for All the Contestants of election to have Degree or Gradution as the minimum education level.
The Judiciary,Employees of Government,executives undertake Several training sessions, Many Private organisations do have undertake several programs to Behave Properly and Develop the right atitude.
Why Cant politicians Evolve ???
Atleast why cant people with this much following Accept the responsibility of their deeds?
More than the rapists this man deserves the capital punishment because he is spreading the message that the females have virtually no honour or rights. There should be a case filed against him for outraging the modesty of women.
I am not surprised to hear this..... when the supreme court can defer death sentence to a rapits cum murderer of 2007 only on the basis that he was drunk and gives him life imprispnment (7 years)...what expect of these illiterate, orthodox gurus and politicians.
its high time women will have to keep weapons with themselves and try save them by injuring /killing the person trying to rape her.
Oh for god sake one should not say that the women doing so shall be given death sentence for saving herself.
Actually I am not surprised at all on such comments coming from alleged 'Godman'. Such 'mans' have done nothing except put the fear of an invisible god into the hearts and minds of naive populace of our nation and in the process has surmassed huge wealth. But leaving all that aside, if one have to look at this comment rationally, it does not make any sense at all (which is probably true for all the comments he makes). The worst thing is that there are a lot of people who will get influenced by such comments and look at such critical issues from a totally ridiculous point of view ( I mean read saraswati mantra will give you the sense of coming dangers, come on ). People please ignore such hypocrites and get a sense of reality. Paying no heeds to such comments is probably the best thing that we can do right now.
This self-appointed hypocrite, dressed like a Santa Claus, will hopefully be on his knees asking his brothers for mercy now that he is being rightfully skewed for his pea brain. His vile comments speak volumes about him.
Sheshachalam Gopalakrishnan's comment exemplify what exactly is wrong with the conservatives in our society. They sincerely believe in a made up history of our 'past glory and sublime culture' which has no basis on available historical facts. They should keep in mind that it is this very same culture that condemned lower castes and dalits to a position lower than that of animals, and considered women as household objects denying them their identity as individuals with equal rights as any man. It cannot be denied that it is the Western civilization that pioneered genuine equality for women in all spheres of life, albeit through constant campaigns by reformers and activists. I sincerely do hope that such archaic attitudes and beliefs die with the old generation and do not get passed on to their young.
Bad Business by Babas is put under public microscope again by alert
media.Business of Babas,netas and corporate depends more on protection
of the slave-master set up in the society which as per their promotion
must continue.
This time Public Pressure lessons must deliver and enforce some new
rules of society.
A shameful comment . How people calling such people Saint??
Shocking but not surprising comment from another GOD Man. Women have to constantly fight this patriarchal mind set for centuries and it is not going to end now. Going by our sanskar which Aasaram Bapu and Mohan Bhagwat recommend us, in one epic the man doubts his wife's virginity for the second time even after testing her through fire, whereas wife had to accept the man as it is after 14 years of separation. In another great epic, hapless woman married to 5 men gets sold to their cousins on a game of dice and gets stripped in public. None of the warriors/ scholars attempted to save her in spite of her pleading & begging. Ironically, she had to make "complete surrender" to the GOD in "Male" form only to get rescued!
This is so unacceptable. Even if, by any chance, I had the same kind
of notion that women are responsible for the crimes against them and I
knew people are influenced by what I say, I would have kept quiet
seeing these mass protests against those who have voiced such
disturbing views. Why would you need to say it?
And this so called God-man assumed 'Jyoti' let it happen without
pleading and praying, without calling them Bhaiya or doing anything at
her disposal to save herself. The notion that they would have stopped
because she called them Bhai is itself stupid
There is one interesting article in today's Hindu about how rape
offenders are treated in UK. Many of them them just had to do
community service as punishment. I was amazed as to why such low level
of punishment, i really don't know but i thought about it for some
time.
I think it might have something to do with the crime itself.i.e. rape
is not considered very offensive crime in UK at least not like murder.
I also believe, it might has something to do with the fact that
western world don't stigmatize the victim of rape.
In India i feel at least the current law is stringent than a law which
gives community service as punishment to rape. We actually treat this
crime with more vigor because we understand how much the victim and
her family will be stigmatize.
I think today the media is not helping in a just manner. Rather than
focusing on right issues like a) better policing b)stigma attached to
rape c)gender sensitivity, it is mere sensationalizing the issue. I
belive this is futile
How do you write laws to prevent or police this kind of a mind-set ? It's unbelievable that anyone -- educated or otherwise -- can think and say things like this !
India is a very Risky place for Women folk in general whether in a
Metropolitan or a village. The economically back ward communities are
exploited by the rich in most of the villages and if they raise their
voice, they are socially boycotted at the instance of the rich and
influential of the panchayat.
Khaps are law to themselves and no political party wants to
antogonise them for their votes and specially when elections are round
the corner.
In to-days news , i saw Mr Vittal making an interesting point, when a
government servant can be kept under suspension for any misdeeds why
not our elected MPs and MLAs. It is ashame that we are ruled by such
people.
Our God men are another species to themselves and are busy in
exploiting the faith of simpltons to make more tax free money and also
run educational institutes to make more money.
As to the remarks of Asaram Bapu, it shows how hallow their knowledge
of human nature. Has he not read a Father raping his daughter for
many years?
I always feel that such absurd statements by some of these men and women in leadership roles are an attempt to draw attention,even at the sake of being notorious because I fail to understand any other reason for people of their stature, who can draw huge media and public attention, to assert ostentatiously such preposterous comments.If its not so then I would remind all of you that you can always think before you speak as such comments have ramifications.
After such a tragic incident,illogical words uttered by Asaram and some politicians reflect patriarchal mindset where they can never ever imagine woman as their equal counterpart. With this incident these hypocrites are in light and many will be in light in coming days..and if they still continue to be leaders then that reflects our mentality as a society
words of asaram clearly convey that he thinks of women as a weaker sex..who can protect themselves only by pleading and crying to the worst of offenders. After giving spiritual lectures for so many years he couldn't even learn that succumbing to wrong is a big fault or crime. One should fight to their last breath for wrong which surely this girl has done.
This is our problem - hero worship. If someone is good in some area,
we keep them in high pedestal, attribute all good qualities and equate
them to God. Let it be sports star, film actors, political leaders,
personalities or so called God men. Even our own parents who have done
lot of sacrifice for our life, we do not appreciate. Parents we
acknowledge only if they leave an empire- business, political heirship
and so on. Most of the God men we find today are Yoga teachers - who
teach techniques which is found useful. We consider them as Gurus and
Swamys, rever them like Gods. They start thinking they have got all
godly / spiritual powers, know everything, are above normal people and
started uttering things / airing views, without understanding. Problem
is not with these people, with us elevating them to these levels.Even
after seeing great saints, gurus in our midst like Ramakrishna,
Aravindar, Ramana Maharishi and so on, we are not able to distinguish
true gurus.
Asaram's satement is shameful.He considers himself a holy person.No he
doesn't deserve to be a man of god........i m shocked by hearing
this...
Forget about sensitivities; is it too much for us to expect such
gurujis to keep quiet?
on this issue ''Social scientist Imitaz Ahmad had commented somewhere that there is a moral,ethical and social decay in our society..all Friends, humans and country women and men should think into this status.We read about the public want a change in our social systems and practices followed for many years.Invariably they could not identify the real problem which learned people point out is the disappearance of the culture among people.The thinking of the people that our time old customs are the reasons for this degradation and so want to destroy the social habits,We should try to find out how to bring back that culture back into our way of life.The bird has flown out of the NEST.We are only crying To destroy the NEst ,rather than trying to get back the BIRD
seshachalam gopalakrishnan
chennai
8 th jan''
"Yatha Raaja Tatha Praja" is a right sanskrit phrase that explains the
violence against females in our country. It's the reflection of
repression of women ingrained in the psyche of leaders and the people
alike.
I agree with you. This indicates that these self-styled godmen or so called saints are just ordinary mortals. This ghastly incidence has stirred the conscience of our society and the churning has brought out the best as well as the worst. The best part was the youth movement against sex violence and demand for stricter laws and their speedy implementation. The worst part was these kind of unwarranted comments by many of our political,cultural and religious leaders reflecting outdated and lop-sided mind-set. The usual scenario of onlookers not willing to help the wounded victims was repeated in this case too. We should have not only legal and police reforms but social reforms too.
What is most surprising is that none from Bapuram Asa's congregation stood up and
challenged his utterly foolish rant. People like his disciples who were present there have put
these so called god men on their pedestal. Unless people wake up and pull likes of Asaram
down,the society will continue to suffer.
The list of Politicians and 'do gooders' of Society, all stooping to these levels, when the Contry should hide its face in shame, speaks volumes for how repressed we are in India. The classic 'mushroom' treatment, when ignorance was considered bliss, was perpetuated for Hundreds of years. Hindus called such thought a sign of backwardness, when preached by the Taliban. Now, our own wise men and women are proposing similar treatment of women. the reality is that educated, questioning and self respecting women are becoming a threat to men and they are stooping so low. Shame on this Godman, who has lost any claim to legitimacy
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