Manipur: Pointing out moral discrepancy of selective anger isn't ‘whataboutism’ but exposition of political skullduggery

The horrific video emerging from troubled Manipur, where two women were stripped, paraded, and molested by a mob in an incident that took place on 4 May but came to light much later in July, has created a tsunami of outrage and made a nation angry with pain and disgust. The administration, both at the state and the Centre, has come under searing criticism. Many are questioning the validity of the Biren Singh government and calling for the ouster of the chief minister who has, quite simply, failed in his job. This rightful demand has emerged not just from the Opposition or those who dislike the BJP, but even from those who are sympathetic to it. The video has also triggered a mendacious debate where selective moral outrage is used as a political weapon and women’s bodies become staging grounds for pitched political battles. Before we proceed, there must be absolute clarity on a few issues. The administration at all levels is culpable for failing over several months to bring the ethnic clashes in Manipur under control that has so far resulted in retributive violence, numerous deaths, arson, destruction of livelihoods and properties, heinous crimes against women and political dislocation. The situation is complex, as I have explained in a recent piece but the government has been voted in power to do its job. That requires, among other things, to govern. To have a veto over violence. It didn’t require a video showing disrobed, distraught women being heckled and groped by a pack of molesters to shake the conscience of those in power. That fact that things came to such a pass is desperately unfortunate. Accountability must be fixed, the violence must be brought immediately under control and those responsible for the monstrosity must face severe punishment. There is no space for compromise on these rules. Some rules of governance are universal. These include the maintenance of law and order. When administrators and administrations falter in executing their primary duties, they are answerable to the public and liable to face criticism and scrutiny from the Opposition, media, and civil society. Instances of sexual assault, acts of political vendetta or retributive violence by means of violating the bodies of women, and the state’s inaction during such acts of criminality are legitimate causes of moral outrage. Here, criticisms and moral outrage perform a critical function in society. It focuses attention on horrendous deeds, increases public awareness and forces those in power to act and address lapses in their actions. In short, it facilitates accountability. However, for such moral affront and indignation to cause the desired effect, it must be seen to be based on fairness and universal applicability of law where the lives and dignity of all women matter, and victimhood does not depend on political affiliation. If outrage is selective, then the rhetoric of outrage loses its moral force, and ultimately its value. It becomes political skullduggery. The actor or actors expressing such selective outrage reveals moral hypocrisy instead of moral integrity. And moral integrity is the whole deal. The only deal. Pointing out that selectivity and moral discrepancy in arguments and debates around the heinous crime in Manipur, and drawing attention to the fact that incidents of such nature (and administrative lapses or worse) do not always receive adequate attention or trigger moral outrage if these do not fit a certain political or identity profile, is not “whataboutery.” It is a necessary, corrective conversation that impacts and shapes public discourse. Exposing this hypocrisy is imperative not just for the immorality and deception at work, but also because tactical silence may sometimes mean complicity. At one level, the feint that goes by the name of ‘whataboutism’ can be used to escape accountability by those in power. Equally, those that demand accountability and claim to ‘speak truth to power’, may use ‘whataboutism’ as a label to deflect questions that expose their lack of moral integrity and selective outrage. It is a devious, two-way game that has no winners. We have come to accept a rather unfortunate truism in democracies. Political parties will be opportunistic. No one expects political parties to not be opportunistic, and therefore, the statements of party-appointed spokespersons are interpreted through appropriate filters. This holds true for all political parties, whether or not they are in power. The class that seeks accountability from those in power — the thick middle of media, activists, intellectuals, commentariat, academia or civil society — do not have that luxury. Hypocrisy might be a feature, not a bug when it comes to political parties. It is a significant lapse for those who claim moral superiority and seek accountability from the political class for their real or perceived lapses, or else the criticism in the absence of fairness or neutrality becomes an extension of the cut and thrust of political discourse. In a recent piece on this issue, one columnist accused the prime minister of “whataboutery” because Narendra Modi referred to the incident in Manipur in the same breath as he mentioned similar crimes against women in other states. The column’s core argument is that the situation in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh or West Bengal is not the same as in Manipur, and the prime minister is guilty of “moral evasion” for his “mendacious reaction”, and “this morally callous regime that peddles absurdities and revels in atrocity” must be thrown out. The columnist is obviously entitled to a particular opinion, however out of sync it is with  public mood. It interests me, however, to point out moral inconsistencies in arguments that substitute logic with hysteria. Coincidentally, on the very day the column in question was published, National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of a video emerging from Malda in West Bengal that showed two women stripped naked and being brutally assaulted. Speaking to the media Saturday, NCW chief Rekha Sharma said “nobody knows where the two women are. The medical examination has not been done, there are no arrest warrants issued, and no FIRs have been done. The family members of the women are worried,” adding that NCW is sending a team to Malda. Despite being stripped and beaten up, both women were arrested by police after the incident on accusations of theft. According to a report in The Wire, “The incident took place near Ratuachak in Pakuahat of Malda, last Tuesday, but only came to public attention on Saturday, July 22, after the video started being circulated on social media. Footage captures how the two women were mercilessly beaten and humiliated by their attackers in front of civic volunteers, a group of contractual staff assisting the police.” The report adds that “police did not arrive at the scene in spite of the fact that a police post was 15 minutes away from the site.” What was the administration’s reaction? West Bengal women and child development minister Shashi Panja said: “There is absolutely no need to politicise the Malda incident. It was a case of theft, where the two ladies tried to steal something from the market. A group of women tried to take law & order into their hands and started beating them.” The citing of the Malda incident in no way absolves the administration in Manipur that has let the crime happen under its watch and failed to act for months until the video emerged on social media. It does point, however, to a pattern in India of violence against women, that is often used as a tool for political persecution. These incidents also point to an acute lack of state capacity, coupled with insufficient political will and, worse, state complicity in some cases. While these are chronic issues plaguing the Indian state, the level of civic outrage in each of these cases are not the same, and therein lies the rub. Morality is a set of values and principles that are not politically expedient, but in many cases, victims of sexual violence are dehumanised and their ordeals dismissed as not worthy of attention. That is unbelievable moral depravity. One hasn’t seen, for instance, expressions of similar hysteria from ‘liberal’ quarters when in 2021, in a stupor of post-poll triumphalism, goons from the ruling TMC allegedly gang-raped multiple women, including a 60-year-old senior citizen as well as a minor in West Bengal. Their ordeal came to light and the horrific details emerged only when they moved the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored CBI/SIT investigation into their cases — so low is their confidence in the state’s law and order machinery. The incidents that came to light make our stomachs churn in disgust, but our so-called liberals did not find it politically expedient to express similar indignation, anger or outrage. In one plea, as reported by India Today, a 60-year-old woman from Bengal alleged that she was gang-raped in front of her six-year-old grandson, while her daughter-in-law was beaten up. “On May 4 around midnight at 12.30 am, five persons who were party workers of the Trinamool Congress came to the applicant’s house and forced their way in…The applicant was slapped, beaten, handcuffed and tied to her bed, as the criminals forced themselves on her,” the application stated. She claimed that despite the horrific attack, the police initially refused to register an FIR ostensibly her family members supported a different political party. In another plea, as reported by Times of India, a 17-year-old minor girl from the scheduled caste community in West Bengal alleged that she was “gang raped by TMC workers on May 9” and sought a shifting of the trial outside the state. “She said that not only was she gangraped and left to die in the jungle after being dragged in there by TMC supporters, the very next day a TMC local leader Bahadur SK came to her house and threatened the family members against lodging a complaint. He threatened to burn their house and kill them if they did so.” The government at the Centre and the state of Manipur must face up to their failures, and they will be punished at the electoral hustings if they lose the voters’ confidence. That is the feature of democracy. Liberal ventriloquism by political operatives through mendacious arguments won’t cut any ice. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.