Friday, April 20, 2018

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'PM promises justice to the rape victim' that was published in Newsband


PM promises justice to the rape victim
The rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua is a horrible news. The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to protect its political constituency in Jammu. Two of its Ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti government had participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused in the case. BJP was slow to act against them. Soon after the two Ministers handed in their resignations, the party asked all its nine Ministers to step down, apparently to bring in new faces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised justice to the rape victim.
Neither the People’s Democratic Party nor the BJP wants to end their coalition over this issue. What brought them together was the PDP’s interest in keeping the National Conference out, and the BJP’s in keeping the Congress out. The alliance was born of short-term electoral expediency rather than any long-term political strategy. But just as the two parties cannot fight the elections on the same electoral plank, they cannot afford to let go of their stakes in this government, for fear of conceding political space to their principal rivals.
BJP government should not hesitate to condemn this heinous act. But both the coalition partners are behaving like opportunists seeking safety to their power. They are reacting differently in different areas to keep their vote bank together. But, this strategy may not work long. Next year elections may see a vast change. If BJP keeps silent over this issue, there will be wrong message spread that Kathua is not just communalization but also criminalization of rape, and this will have serious consequence.
It's pathetic that how actions of politicians revolve around only power. Somehow, people and their problems are not main concerns for them. It may sound cliche but it is the reality which we have unknowingly accepted but there has to be firm stand against wrong things. We've been taught in schools that no matter how bitter and harsh the truth is you have to stand by it, even if it means going against your friends. But these values have no place in our politics one guesses. Yet, there is a hope that people will understand their rights and stand to protect them.

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