Mohan Bhagwat's remark on rape misunderstood, BJP says
PTI | Jan 4, 2013, 06.27 PM IST
NEW DELHI: Pushed on the backfoot by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comment that rapes happens in cities, BJP on Friday put up a brave defence saying the statement should be seen in the proper context and he was referring to India's culture, tradition and value system.
"The present controversy relating to certain comments of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is totally uncalled for and unnecessary. His comments are required to be seen and understood in entirety. He was referring to India's sanskar, tradition and value system where respect for women occupies a pride of place," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Bhagwat had courted controversy when he said in Silchar on Thursday that "crimes against women happen in India and not in Bharat". He maintained that women living in cities follow a western lifestyle which leads to crimes against them.
Backing Bhagwat, Prasad said the RSS chief had also underlined the need for meting out stringent sentences to the guilty.
"At the same time, he also demanded that strong punishment should be given to those who are offenders in relation to crimes against women and that laws should be strengthened to even give capital punishment," Prasad said.
BJP maintained that empowerment of women, and giving them respect and security form the core of RSS ideology.
"There is extraordinary work and achievement made in various RSS-related organizations like Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, Vidya Bharti and other allied organisations which bear ample testimony to the same," Prasad said.
RSS leader Ram Madhav had defended Bhagwat on the same lines and said it should be seen in the proper perspective.
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From: Tehelka
Ashis Nandy says Bhagwat is right
The social scientist supports RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark on rapes and says there is a connection between modernisation, urbanisation and violence against women
Tehelka Bureau
January 4, 2013
Delhi: While Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh supremo Mohan Bhagwat is being criticised for his comment that rapes occur only in cities, not in rural India, prominent public intellectual and social scientist Ashis Nandy has come out in his support. Speaking to Tehelka, Nandy says there is a connection between modernisation, urbanisation and rape.
“It is not only in India but in most of the world. So I don’t think Bhagwat was wrong because in India there are many instances, even in rural India there are many instances of rape. I must tell you that the future is loaded in favour, if I may put it that way, of urban India and modern India. In other words you will hear more instances of rape in cities and metropolitans,” he says.
Bhagwat sparked off a controversy on Friday 4 January with his remark that rapes occurred only in cities and not in rural India. “Such crimes hardly take place in Bharat, but they frequently occur in India,” he said while addressing a citizens’ meet in Silchar, Assam.
Bhagwat criticised the “western” lifestyle adopted by people in urban areas and blamed it for the increase in crime against women in cities. “You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gangrape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts. Besides new legislations, Indian ethos and attitude towards women should be revisited in the context of ancient Indian values,” he said.
Defending Bhagwat’s remarks, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav on said, “The statement of RSS chief should be taken in proper perspective. He (Bhagwat) has already demanded strict punishment for rapists and even called for death penalty if required,” Madhav said.
“All that he said is that in Indian tradition we have great respect for women and we should learn to uphold this tradition. If one goes away from this tradition it will result in rise of crime against women,” he added in the RSS chief’s defence.
Nandy further added that the reason why he sees a rising incidence of rape is “because the kinds of rapes that we hear of now are mostly violent”.
“You can almost call it anomic rape. These are typical characteristic of anonymous cities. Highly individualised, personally thin cultures and it is so not only inIndia, I repeat, but perhaps all over the world from which we have data. So in one sense, Bhagwat is not wrong, but he has absolutised this difference to make a different kind of point to protect India perhaps, its so called pristine purity as it survives outside urban India. In anonymous societies kinship dies and community ties weaken and become superficial. It is in these circumstances that you see the kind of rape that you are seeing today,” Nandy says.
Shoma Chaudhury @ShomaChaudhury
Mohan bhagwat is clearly out of touch with reality if he thinks rapes don't happen in bharat. Dalits, tribals and rural women don't count?
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From: The Times of India
Bhagwat, Vijayvargiya draw flak from activists and academics alike
By Meenakshi Sinha, TNN | Jan 4, 2013, 09.38 PM IST
NEW DELHI: The controversial statements on rape and women by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and Madhya Pradesh industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya of the BJP have drawn flak from activists and academics alike.
Social scientist Dipankar Gupta says that both statements stem from untutored mindsets. "Bhagwat seems to say that rapes don't happen in villages. On the contrary, the number of rapes in villages is phenomenal but they largely go unreported," he says.
Gupta further points out that the RSS is strongest in urban India with no or little presence in the villages. ""It only proves that its followers are city products who have a romantic notion of rural India. Bhagwat's statement should not be given any importance," he says.
"It's inexcusable that Bhagwat's statement comes at a time when newspapers are full of reports on rapes in the country. It seems he does not read newspapers and that's inexcusable," Gupta adds.
The RSS chief's Friday statement that "such crimes (read rape) hardly take place in Bharat, but they frequently occur in India" hinted at western influences in lifestyles and values in Indian cities vis a vis Indian villages as the reason behind increasing cases of rapes. He was addressing a citizens' meet on Tuesday during his four-day visit to Silchar in Assam.
According to women's rights activist Ranjana Kumari, Bhagwat's statement smacks of patriarchy. "He's not saying anything new as the feudal mindset of controlling women hasn't changed," she says.
Kumari maintains that a village is a closed society where a woman cannot afford social shame. "Hence, most cases of rape go unreported there as compared to cities," she adds.
Vijayvargiya's statement too has drawn widespread criticism. Quoting from the Ramayana, the MP industries minister had said that just like Sita was abducted by Ravana for crossing the Lakshman Rekha, a woman will be punished if she crosses her limits.
For sociologist Shiv Visvanathan, such statements underline the problem with the BJP mindset. "The BJP looks at myths without taking into account their historical context. Also, the overemphasis on beauty, morality and tradition against modernity is nothing new. It stems from the fact that such leaders live in an imaginary line dividing India and Bharat," he says.
Kumari proposes a role reversal in the wake of such statements. "It's high time to control men now. We should look at what kinds of controls should be imposed on them so that they let women be," she says.
That apart on Jan 2, a panchayat in Bihar's Siwan district banned use of mobiles and warning clothes like jeans and short dress for school and college girls. Kumari says that such acts are intended to curtail women's freedom. "It is time to look at how society is treating women rather than find ways in which they can be controlled," she says.
