A Letter to the NCW ladies by Porf.U K Chowdhury

To

Madhu Kishwar, Kavita Krishnan, Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Sukla Sen, Shabnam Hashmi, DELHI.

Dear all the honorable ladies who have launched a protest against Minister Somnath Bharti,

I had read the Open Letter from some of you and many other women's organizations and also then last night saw two channels (NDTV and CNN-IBN) air two programs from that locality of the incident (Malviyanagar, Kirkee Extension). Since I am not a Delhi resident, I asked one of my former students, Karan Rajpal, aged 29 years, now a mid level manager with a leading communication consulting company and resident of Malviyanagar, about the issue, to which he forwarded me his facebook post (copy-pasted at the end of this email).

As both the television stories from the spot and also the third story (IBN 7) of the mother of the half-burnt woman of Sarupnagar whose culprits were not initially arrested neither FIR allowed to be lodged initially, show: ALL the affected people (and the programs show a huge number of them) are UNIVOCALLY condemning the police inaction in both these incidents and considering the work of the two ministers (Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla) heroic, and their CM’s protest in their interests and bold!! The Sarupnagar culprits were arrested only on the second day of the Protests by Delhi govt.

Exactly the local affected people have the opposite of the views of ALL of you, none of you being the aggrieved party. A few affected people of Kirkee and the girl’s mother told the same point a few times, “Those who have never faced a situation as we have today would speak in all high-flown moral terms without knowing the pain of being ignored by the Police when we need their action most.”

I am NOT a resident of Delhi, NOT in any way related to these ministers (never met them or Kejriwal) and not an activist of AAP.

But common sense and known people in Delhi tell me that Police in Delhi has been highly compromised on issues of women safety, sex and drug rackets, and indulged in petty corruption of collecting haftas etc. And, Sushmaji and Sheilaji also talked about state govt’s police control as in other states (BJP, Congress and AAP talk about this and complete statehood in their manifestos). It seems to an outsider like me that they talked and the new govt is WALKING the talk.

If Bharti has spoken the derogatory sentences (of racial difference with Africans or spitting on the leaders etc), it is highly deplorable, no question of holding any brief for this, and none of us should. However, no video footage has been aired by the media ON THESE two talks. His party has chided him, hence, I believe his words must have been wrong even though we have not seen the footage of the same.

The only footage all of us have seen repeatedly that Bharti is asking the Police officer to raid the house where he and residents feel sex-drug racket going on. And this is by itself NOT wrong when for two years last (as repeatedly told in the two programs and complaint letters shown on TV), local Resident Welfare Association leaders have been complaining against the racket there to which no action was taken (you do not need two years to get a warrant), and NO WARRANT is needed for cases of narcotics abuse (some of you are law-graduates and would know what I am saying), and finally, an ACP rank officer (who was there at the spot) can cordon off an area/house where such a thing is allegedly going on, get warrant in two hours and conduct a raid otherwise too.

None of these were done. And no blood tests were done. Urine tests were done with a gap of 6-7 hours. There are ways of going out of alcohol effect in those many hours. And drugs can only be understood through blood test

In spite of all of these FACTS as noted above, not opinions, and the voices of the affected people in both cases, you all choose to ignore them and bay for the blood of Bharti, Birla and Kejriwal. Then, either you have POLITICAL reasons (as Ms Kishwar may have being a declared Modi-admirer like Kiran Bedi) OR are genuinely misguided (which I do not think being educated and socially very active ladies that you all are) OR are paid by opponents of AAP (like a part of the media) which also I find little tough to believe (may be true for some), OR most probably, just seeking your 30 seconds of fame each time a camera approaches you!! And, since your views help the paid media to put up its case, they are USING you repeatedly.

Most of you are left-leaning persons. My family has been a left voter in Bengal, and an elder cousin of ours has been a Naxalite leader of North Bengal later killed by the Bengal Police of Siddharth Shankar Roy govt. He was our role-model. I have participated in movements of the left forces connected to price-rise, Safdar Hashmi killing, anti-nuclear protests and Narmada Bachao movement earlier in life.

I am shocked with your stand, in spite of most of you being leftists. Bharti’s wrong words withstanding (I have no proofs of that though), the cause they all are fighting for MUST be close to your heart too. Do you want another Nirbhaya case? If you are so concerned about some African women (in this case, actually ONLY THOSE involved in drug-sex racket), why are you not even more concerned once about the gang-raped Danish woman which was the third case they were protesting about? And, is the issue here racialism or drug-sex racket? Obviously, NO BODY says all Africans are bad (just out of context mention: one of the best friends of mine is Tafesse Sahelle, MIDROCK Communication Director in Ethiopia, who was my batch-mate in International Relations Masters in Jadavpur University long back, and an accomplished black gentleman).

Leftists are expected to be WITH people, and some of you were there in the TV programs from Malviyanagar and have SEEN the anger of the local people (ALL THERE) against the police inaction on this issue for last two years in spite of repeated protests. If suppose one of you were an MLA instead of Rakhi or Somnath and your people would have come to you with these issues and history of these, in case of Bharti, repeatedly, what would you have done facing an inactive and compromised police?

It is the failure of left forces in representing people’s issues and take up cudgels against corrupt Congress and communal-dictatorial BJP that has given rise to AAP. As pro-people intellectuals and activists, you should rather welcome the battle for pro-people pro-active Police (first in state govt command in the short run, as in every other state of India, and then professional and independent Police through Police Reforms).

I still have faith in your sagacity and commitment to people, so writing this email you all. Hope that you at least think twice. You are NOW being seen in one line with Congress, BJP and the paid media! And your complete silence on the issues of Danish rape victim and the burn-victim, the other two cases of the three protested against, further shows your selective judgment and points to a political method in your stand!!

I have nothing more to say. I thought this is an opportunity for women’s organizations to take up the issue of women’s safety in a major way. But you are stuck with Bharti’s words, and not the substantive issue of women’s safety, at all. And most of the so-called wrong words of Bharti have not been proven by any video yet….

Thanks and regards

UKC/Kolkata

Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Senior Consultant with New Business Age-Abhiyan Group, Kathmandu.

President, Advisory Board, Whistling Woods School of Communication, Mumbai

Former Director, Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication & Dean, SIU, Pune.

Former Media Adviser, Textiles Ministry, GOI; The Nippon Foundation; and WHO, India.

POST FROM Karan Rajpal, resident of Malaviyanagar:

Karan Rajpal (to all who are blatantly ridiculing AAP today): You're here to troll everyone who raises a point for the AAP. Drugs and other paraphernalia wasn't found because the Police did not gherao the area as they should have. Under the Narcotics act, they didn't even need a warrant any way. No blood tests were conducted, hence nothing could be proven. The minister you castigate so ruthlessly walked up to a door, and asked how much, and was given a rate. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows what's happening.

Also, the ground situation of the ghetto in Malviya Nagar is as unknown to you as the atrocities in Central Africa, where many of these folks emigrate from to save their lives. Most of them are extremely poor and trafficked to our country, else they would have chosen a first world country. So prostitution, narcotics and other illegal means of earning a livelihood exist, as they do in weaker sections of our society.