Bangalore Indifferent
By Abhishek Kamat
30 January, 2013
Countercurrents.org
“Aray yaar.. in logon ko to kuch kaam dhandha hai nahi, saare aakar yahan bait ke aawaz uthathe hai…. hamare desh mein aise bahut saare hadse hote rehte hai, aise awaaz uthake kya fayda; kuch hone wala to hai nahi ” - (These people are not at all serious about the issue, what is the use of protesting on streets then? How are we to benefit from these protests?) - this is what a commuter told me as he stopped his bike for a while to witness people raising their voices at Town Hall – a popular protest spot in Bangalore. On 29 December 2012, many Bangaloreans had gathered here at Town Hall to mourn the death of the 23 year old para medical student who was brutally gang-raped by 6 miscreants following which she was manhandled and pushed out of a moving bus.
For long protests, candlelight vigils and demonstrations in India have been the center stage for highlighting issues that have tainted society. Be it rape or murder, almost every single issue has been raised through protests and demonstrations. Even Mahatma Gandhi with great tenacity staged protests against the ruling British. Back then, people knew the purpose of these protests. But now the trend is slowly evolving, people or the so called ‘citizens’ of India are vaguely aware of what is happening in the state and attend these rallies just to be seen on TV or quoted in a newspaper. Protests today have successfully manifested itself into a medium of publicity.
Let us take the recent 23 year old gang rape case that rocked the nation severely leading several Indian states to organize protests and demonstrations. On the evening of 20 December 2012, the entire town hall in Bangalore was packed with working women, NGOs, Sandalwood celebrities, activists and of course journalists. Established under temporary shamianas, women representing several NGOs adjusted their saris and brushed aside their hair just when the camera rolled in to focus their faces. When asked about their participation in this protest, most of them promptly replied as though they had already scripted their dialogues and were ready to brave questions posed to them. Some of them as usual did not understand the question and were blandly raising slogans just to be heard and seen on TV.
Some sources state that most students who attended these protests were affiliated with the right wing and left wing groups. They knew their job well and were prepared with their answers as soon as we (the media) asked them relevant questions on this issue. On speaking to Swar Thanoujam, a Bangalore based Manipuri playwright who had hit the headlines in the first week of December 2012 for being physically molested by a group of men and the traffic policemen said that the protestors were seen having an argument on the penalties imposed upon the perpetrators. However, she claims that the protests did have a positive impact in creating an awareness. According to Choodie Shivaram, an activist and journalist who was present at these protest sites says that, “ At Freedom Park most of these NGO’s and local parties did nothing productive in contributing to this cause instead all they did was to hijack the camera. They wanted the attention of the media and were very successful in gaining it.”
This has likely been the case in Bangalore whenever it comes to protests and public demonstrations. People of Bangalore play the game of hypocrisy – they participate and when asked to speak about their participation, all they do is shy away from the camera and say, “I am not interested”. People gather at places such as Freedom Park and Town Hall and are completely oblivious of the issues that happen in the city. As a journalist when I asked several protesters about their participation in these protests – the answers I received were not only shocking but all the more shameful. Here are some of the responses I received when I asked people -- “my organization told me to come here and raise slogans”. Some said “ I am here because I wanted to be a part of this protest; I received an invitation on Facebook from my friend to join this protest, my friend is attending these protests also”. These mixed and wayward responses left me in a quandary; can people stoop so low that they attend any protest without sparing a thought on what the cause is? And with such an attitude how are we to revolutionize the legal systems in our democracy?
According to The New Indian Express, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, MD Biocon with regard to the proposed nation- wide bandh said that India had a silly way of dealing with things through a bandh. Instead people must pressurize the government on anti- rape laws. A one- day protest would be pointless and achieve nothing.
In partial agreement with whatever is said, organizing one- day protests or revolting against the government would serve no means, moreover some people attend these protests to publicize themselves and the various other organizations they represent. The focus or the current theme of these protests is completely lost. People at protest sites were busy quarrelling with each other and making no sense most of the time. Like every other issue, we have indeed doused the “Nirbhaya” flame.
When I spoke to random citizens on Brigade road in Bangalore, here were some of the responses I got – Dhruva, a housewife said, “I guess it (Nirbhaya’s death) has lost its impact over the month. Initially there were lots of protests and demonstrations but after a period of time we don’t see any change. The Bandh also did not seem to make any difference – I guess it is gradually loosing its impact like every other crime in the city”. Another concerned citizen said, “I don’t think the Nirbhaya incident or the protests following it has raised any awareness, because we don’t see any drop in crime rates because every other day we hear about constant crimes that take place in the city.”
Despite making noise over this issue, rape of women and children still continue unabated in Bangalore as well as the whole of Karnataka. According to The Times of India, the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bangalore ranks fourth in its crime rates against women and is one of most unsafe cities in India. Even though several police officials and MLAs did promise to take appropriate measures to culminate crime rates in Bangalore, so far nothing is apparent. Recently, the juvenile who was one amongst the accused was denied death penalty, which is completely not concomitant with the demand raised in the protest – that is to offer death penalty as the final option to the accused. So where are these protests leading us to, since most of our demands are not being met in the right manner. However, it can be assumed that the result of such protests directly implies on the participation itself. If people continue to participate just to be seen on TV or quoted in the newspaper, it is evident that crimes such as rape and murder will obviously increase. Instead of curbing such crimes, we are fueling the fire and are paving way for more such crimes to happen in the city. It is really sad to see that people are deriving a completely new meaning of these protests. As an intern with a news channel, when I interacted with most people at these protest sites, the response I generated was – protests have really transformed itself into a medium of propaganda. People were seen laughing and cracking jokes; these protests had indeed lost its value.
It has almost been a month since Nirbhaya’s death and we still haven’t discovered a concrete solution to stop rape. With such participation, I guess we will never find a solution. Although Justice Verma committee has issued rules and laws that safeguard the rights of women, we as citizens of India are still wary about the fact that whether these rules that were charted a couple of days ago, will they be implemented in the right way or like any other law, will these guidelines go defunct over a period of time. Until and unless we as citizens aren’t ready to change our mindsets, revolution of our country or state seems nearly impossible.
Abhishek Kamat is a freelance journalist based in Bangalore.
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