Thulasi’s threat

Thulasi’s threat

Peaceful protest against Sabarimala verdict is a right. Inciting violence destroys women’s rights.

The bloodthirsty exhortation by Malayalam actor Kollam Thulasi to tear women visiting Sabarimala temple into two pieces, while speaking at a BJP-led protest, is plain incitement to violence against women. The gory imagery he conjured is reminiscent of the Taliban and its acts of spectacular cruelty towards women, calculated to drive them out of public spaces. Coming under flak for his remarks he has since issued a half-hearted apology, trotting out the familiar ‘hurt sentiments’ excuse.

The Supreme Court judgment allowing all women the right to worship at Sabarimala has fuelled massive protests across Kerala by Hindu groups opposing interference in religious traditions. They have every right to protest peacefully, a right protected by the Constitution. But when horrific violence is advocated a red line is crossed. BJP, an ardent advocate of ‘beti bachao beti padhao’ and the rights of Muslim women, cannot ignore the undisguised threat to Hindu women in Thulasi’s speech. BJP must maintain no truck with such elements given the strong correlation between hate speech and mob violence. At the receiving end of cultural intolerance in India are minorities, rationalists and women. Recall the assassinations of Narendra Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh, or the lynchings based on gau raksha and child lifting rumours, or the murder of women branded as witches (NCRB records 134 such murders in India in 2016).

Mob attacks are often preceded by localised campaigns that openly incite violence. Only the state can counter them by using its statutory powers. But FIRs for hate speech are rarely prosecuted once the controversy dies down. Kerala government must emphasise that the actor is facing action for inciting violence, not for joining the protest.

The right to equality for women has moved rapidly in the judicial sphere from triple talaq abolition to Sabarimala entry and decriminalising adultery. PILs seeking entry of Muslim women to all mosques and the #MeToo outpouring by women against predatory men reveal a changing generation of women undeterred by societal sanctions and punishment. Women with clear conservative positions on traditions and legislation are also coming to the forefront, be it in the peaceful Sabarimala protests or the silent Maratha morchas. Men like Thulasi who incite misogyny and violence, however, are on a different platform. Even conservatives must isolate them.