The Stories of Subalterns: Gender Violence in Manipur and Intolerance in Madhya Pradesh

 

The Stories of Subalterns: Gender Violence in Manipur and Intolerance in Madhya Pradesh

By Dr.Shobhana Singh

  

In 1930s, an Italian Marxist philosopher, writer, politician and journalist Antonio Gramsci, who was in prison at that time, coined the term subaltern in his widely known book “Prison Notebooks” to identify the cultural hegemony that excludes specific people and social groups from the socio-economic institutions of society, later on the term's semantic range has evolved from its first usage by an Indian historian, Ranajit Guha, who studied them from the perspective of the under classes term "subaltern".  Now the term refers to any person or group of inferior rank or station, whether because of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion. Unfortunately even in post-colonial era we still consider tribals, women, minority groups etc. as subalterns and treat them like that . Nowadays social media and newspapers are overflowing with the news of BJP leader allegedly abusing and urinating on tribal man sitting in the Kubari market of Sidhi district in Madhya Pradesh, and of horrifying, shameful act of gender violence that happened at the B Phainom village in Kangpokpi district on May 4^th, but got noticed few days back when everybody witnessed the video of that heinous crime on social media. The news  shook the whole world and raised the question of most vulnerable folk’s protection in our so called advanced and techno-era society when billionaire boys like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are talking about their visions for ‘humanity’s future in space’ and having vision of establishing self-sustaining city on Mars. Hello, people of this planet!! Can we talk about ‘vulnerable’s future on this earth?

Manipur crisis which started on 3^rd May, have  left at least 150 people dead and 40000 displaced till date due to ethnic clashes between tribal and non-tribal groups Kuki and Meitei respectively. Just after the second day of these clashes, around 800-1,000 miscreants carrying weapons entered the B Phainom village, vandalized all the houses, looted and burnt them. Meanwhile one family having five members, fled to forest and were rescued by Nongpok Sekami Police team, but see the irony of the situation that this family was snatched by a mob from the custody of police. Two males were murdered on the spot while three women were disrobed, paraded and one 21 year old woman allegedly became the subject of horrifying deed. The incident which happened two months back, is now flashing and people’s representative in Parliament like Manipur C.M, N. Biren Singh, celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Akshay Kumar and so on, are tweeting and condemning this unforgettable devil’s deed.

In both the incidents offenders have not only targeted the bodies of the victims but also sifted through their souls. Both the inhumane incidents have mocked the Article 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution, the Article 14 embodies the principle of equality before law and equal protection of law and prohibition from discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and Article 15 that has special provisions for children, women and socially backwards classes of society. Again this is the irony of this techno era where we are proudly launching Chandrayaan-3 and other space mission yet cannot take care of our vulnerable, deprived but very indispensable part of our society- children, women, backwards and last but not the least our mother nature, without which this place would be inferno. How can humans be so inhuman, insensitive and think that they won’t be identified if they commit crime under cover of mob?  Here I would like to mention the purpose of one of the greatest poems, ‘The Divine Comedy ‘,by Dante, is to show people the horrors their souls would go through if they don’t obey God’s laws and don’t live righteously as the author says,

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis”   and, “Consider your origins: you were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge”.