Book Review: Hindutva And Violence Against Women

 [This book review was first published in YouthKiAwaaz]

On August 15, 2022, a historic day when India celebrated 75 years of Independence, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, in his speech on the occasion made a specific reference to women. He said, “I also want to share an agony. What I wish to share is that it hurts me to say that we have witnessed a perversion in our day to day speaking, behaviour. We have been casually using expletives and cuss words, which are abusive and against out women. Can we not pledge to get rid of every behaviour and culture that humiliates and demeans women in our daily life?”

A few hours later, in the Prime Minister‘s home state of Gujarat, walking out of Godhra jail were eleven men, convicted of heinous crimes of gang rape of three women, murder of fourteen, including two children. They had been granted remission from the sentence of life imprisonment on grounds of good behaviour in jail. Photographs of the moment, showed them being garlanded, rather like heroes returning from the battlefield.

Here was a Prime Minister agonised by ‘cuss words and expletives”- which true, are derogatory to women- but who allows the premature release of men convicted for heinous acts of rape and murder. A Prime Minister who asks people to make a pledge ‘to get rid of every behaviour and culture that humiliates and demeans women’, but does not condemn the sickening felicitation of rapists and killers.

This extract from the Introduction to Brinda Karat’s book, “Hindutva and Violence Against Women”, sets the tone for the book. As someone who has worked with women on gender related issues for decades, the author knows that there has always been violence against women. In this book, she explains how the nature of violence has intensified and how violence, especially against women of certain communities, castes and socio-economic status has been almost normalised.

In the book, she describes many of the cases of violent crime that shook the conscience of the nation in the past decade (Kathua, Hathras, Manipur) and explains how in each of the cases, the political, police, judicial and social system has colluded with the perpetrators and enabled them to get away. They were all clear cases of a majoritarian ideology doing all it could to ensure that the crime went unpunished, because in their view crimes against women of a lower caste or a minority community didn’t’ count as a crime.

The author uses the case of the women wrestlers protesting against sexual harassment by an MP to show how even when women do complain about sexual harassment, they are first ignored and then blamed for not speaking up earlier. Despite presenting a united front, the wrestlers were not able to get justice, and the perpetrator is still roaming around free. The wrestlers were an extremely powerful group of women, and if they were not able to make themselves heard, what hope do other working women have when they want to register a complaint against men in positions of power.

The author also gives concrete examples of cases where the woman who is sexually assaulted complains, but her own morals are brought into question. In each of those cases, she is dubbed a loose woman who chose to put herself in danger by rebelling against the meek stereotype, and therefore any crime against her justified. The author argues that such cases have seen an exponential rise in the period coinciding with the rise in Hindutva.

One of the most gruesome crimes described is the murder of Shraddha Walker who was killed by her live in boyfriend. The murder should have focussed on the vulnerability of a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship. However, since her partner belongs to a minority community, the case took on communal overtones, and the lessons that society should have learnt from the case were completely forgotten. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that though two similar crimes were discovered with a few weeks of the first one, since the perpetrator in both those cases were Hindu, neither received much publicity and both were quicky forgotten.

While crimes against women were always present, the author argues that under the current regime there is a blatant attempt at dilution of the legal framework and the subversion of existing laws and structures. During the UPA government, a draft bill was brought to prevent crimes against women, but the bill has been completely buried, even though the National Family Health Survey shows that crimes against women have increased in the past decade.

The other important issue that the author raises is about how Hindutva leaders gaslight women by claiming that gang rapes and other similar violent crimes are restricted to urban areas. With statements like these, they tacitly imply that it is only women who been exposed to the so-called Western influence are victims, and that they bring it on themselves. Clearly there is no basis for making such a statement, because the NFHS shows that women in rural areas are also victims of sexual violence, though they may have fewer opportunities to report the crimes.

Though the Hindutva ideology makes an attempt to talk about the participation of women in the movement, it is allowed in primarily two ways. One is in training women to bear arms- whether these women will ever be deployed or not is immaterial, they are made to participate in processions to show their might. The other is showing women performing their traditional gendered role. Both these go against everything the feminist movement stands for, and they take women further away from gender equity.

I end with another quote from the book:

“Returning to the impact of Hindu on violence against women, there are two aspects which I believe are the essence of the changes. The first is the targeting of the minority communities…Women of these communities have been specifically affected directly and indirectly as targets of hatred, contempt, and violence. This anti-minority bigotry, a basic premise of Hindutva, is what I called ‘communal majoritarianism’. The second is the intrinsic nature of the Hindu project with selectively valorises traditions and customs linked to the perception of the ideal woman as a ‘pativrata nari’ …. Undoubtedly, when such beliefs and ideas are promoted by the state, by institutions run by the state, introduced as texts in educational syllabi, it has a deep impact on social relations and thinking. This is what I called “Manuvadi majoritarianism.”

This book is essential reading to understand the nature of the threat to women from Hindutva, and consequently to guard ourselves against it.

[The book is published by Speaking Tiger. I received a review copy of the book, and the views are entirely my own.]