Hyderabad, Bengaluru stand with Manipur women: Activists demand resignation of CM, President’s Rule

Solidarity event for survivors of Manipur violence in Bengaluru

In Bengaluru, the protest took place at the Town Hall, with more than 200 people participating in it.

The protests came after a video from Manipur of two Kuki-Zo tribe women paraded naked — and also allegedly gang-raped at some point — went viral, triggering outrage across the country.

The video shows dozens of men parading and assaulting two women after stripping them naked. The incident is reported to have occurred on 4 May in Manipur’s Thoubal district.

However, the video emerged after more than two months due to an internet ban in Manipur on 4 May.

Also read: PM breaks silence on Manipur; SC orders immediate action

Hyderabad stands with Manipur

Displaying placards, the protestors raised slogans such as “Stop violence on Kukis in Manipur,” “Shame on BJP government”, and “This country belongs to all”, as they termed the act of the women being paraded naked as “inhumane.”

Questioning the silence of the BJP-led Union government on the matter for nearly two months, the protestors also demanded that Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh step down.

Hyderabad citizens displaying placards and protesting against Manipur violence. (Ajay Tomar/South First)

“The moment I saw that video, I felt numb. It was very disturbing. As a woman, when I go out and there are lots of men, I get intimidated by them. So it hard to even imagine what those two women would have felt,” Nikhita Reena, a Hyderabad-based educationist, told South First.

For Sreeja, a Hyderabad-based activist with the organisation NBS, the visuals were appalling.

“They are saying that those steps were taken by the Metei people as a reaction to what happened with women from their community. It reminds me how in a patriarchal society women’s honour is a commodity. The larger issue is rising fascism, which emboldens such acts,” she told South First.

Deadly ethnic riots broke out between primarily Hindu Meitei and dominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribes in May in Manipur over a proposal to extend reservation in government jobs and education to the former.

Also read: Margaret Alva questions silence of PM Modi on Manipur

‘Strategical silence of PM’

Showing solidarity with the two Kuki-Zo tribe women, the activists alleged that the clashes in Manipur were “state-sponsored” for political gains and to persecute minorities.

“This has again proved that it (the BJP government) follows a discriminative policy against marginalised groups in the country. Suppose temples were being burnt down, would the matter have still been delayed? For the government to take note, two aadivasi (tribal) women had to undergo such agony. How shameful is this in the world’s largest democracy?” Dalit Women Collective (DWC) founder Sujatha Surepally asked South First.

Activists and citizens gathered in Hyderabad during the protest. (Ajay Tomar/South First)

The activists and citizens also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited the state so far.

“Ten days ago, even the Supreme Court said did not want to interfere in the matter. But ironically, it has now taken suo motu cognizance,” V Sandhya, national convener of the Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) and one of the organisers of the Hyderabad protests, told South First.

“PM Modi had also been observing silence strategically until yesterday,” she noted.

She alleged that the BJP wanted to create unrest across the entirety of India.

“After the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, they want to spread as much as religious violence they can. Today it’s Manipur, yesterday it was Kashmir, tomorrow it can be any other place. Instead of blaming the Congress for its past, the BJP should focus on governance,” Sandhya said.

An agitator with a placard in the solidarity event in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, advocate and activist T Narasimhamurthy told South First in Bengaluru: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not have broken his silence even today if not for Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who valiantly declared on Thursday that if the government did not intervene, the Supreme Court certainly would. Now there was no other choice left for PM Modi but to react.”

He added: “We should remember that according to the BJP’s language, it is a ‘double-engine sarkar’ in Manipur, and both the state and the Central governments are unable to contain the ethnic cleansing violence over the past 77 days for reasons best known to them. We are expressing our solidarity from Bengaluru and stand by the people of Manipur at this time.”

Vimala KS from the Janavadhi Mahila Sanghatanne concurred when she told South First in Bengaluru: “Now Manipur is burning and tomorrow the entire India will burn. After the Supreme Court said it would intervene, you [prime minister] wake up and speak for 30 seconds to the media is not enough.”

She added: “This is India where there is democracy and a Constitution, and the Constitution ensures that dignity of life is everybody’s right. Your ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ will not enhance my dignity. So it is your duty to protect the dignity of the country and its women. It took 77 days for you to open your mouth when the entire world saw the two Indian women being paraded naked and their dignity was lost.”

Also read: Violence in Manipur is uniting political rivals in Kerala

‘Impose President’s Rule’

The protestors also sought President’s Rule in Manipur, which would mean the suspension of the state government and imposition of the Union government’s rule.

“It is hard to even see that barbaric act in the video. Not just the chief minister but Union Home Minister Amit Shah should also resign. It’s high time people should understand that the BJP needs to be thrown out. BJP hatao, beti bachao (remove BJP, save girls),” noted Hyderabad-based activist Khalida Parveen told South First.

A placard being displayed at the at the protest in Hyderabad. (Ajay Tomar/South First)

The families of the two survivors in Manipur have accused the police of supporting the mob when they filed the complaint on 18 May about the 4 May incident.

As per reports, the families said that it took cops more than a month to transfer the case to the police station under whose jurisdiction the crime happened.

The Manipur police have arrested four accused so far, including the prime suspect Khuirem Herodas (32) behind the assault on the two women.

“What was the SP doing? Why have they made arrests now and not earlier?” asked Sandhya.

For Nikhita Reena, the ultimate justice would be to arrest all the accused and not just a few. “They should be sentenced for at least 10-14 years, if not more,” she said.

On a different note, Muslim poet K Sharifa told South First in Bengaluru that the BJP government, while in power, was looking to turn Hindus against Muslims in Karnataka in the name of hijab, azaan, and economic boycott.

“And in Manipur, the ruling BJP is turning the majority Meitei community, who are Hindus and backed by the RSS, against the minority Kuki-Zo Christians by raking up a change in reservation status extending to Meiteis in a sensitive context. People know what the BJP is up to,” she said.

Also read: Manipur violence, UCC push irk Kerala’s pro-BJP Christian leaders