India’s #MeToo movement has arrived and is haunting the sexual predators who till few days back where the best known faces in India. These culprits controlled the narratives and set the narratives. They presented themselves as most progressive, the torchbearers of modern day India who knew what the common man did not know. Some are famous comedians from AIB who cracked vulgar jokes, passed lewd comments, used abusive words and the top stars from the movie industry graced their shows. Any opposition to their brand of comedy immediately invited the wrath of the left liberals. They championed the cause of the women, advocated free sex and mocked those who loved to live a cultured life.
Media magnets, senior editors, reporters who write opinion pieces in the famous newspapers of India and teach us what is good for us and what is not good for us have now been exposed by women who once worked with them. They have degrees from the best universities of the world, they work (or worked) at a very responsible positions but still they did not shy away from indulging in such heinous acts. How can the Bollywood stars be left behind? Actors like Nana Patekar and Alok Nath who are inspiration for many budding actors have also been accused of sexual misconduct.
Every day or rather every hour one new incident is coming out wherein a woman is narrating how she was sexually exploited by men in power.
Whether all these allegations are true or not it is for the investigative agencies to determine but all the allegations are not false either. Many men accepted their misconduct and offered apology. Chetan Bhagat, one of the best-selling authors of India, accepted the charge and said sorry for his behavior. In many of the cases the victims have posted the vulgar messages which were sent to them by the sex maniacs. AIB comics Tanmay Bhat and Utsav Chakraborty famous for their indecent comedy got completely exposed and their shows have been cancelled. Men from media like Mayank Jain of Business Standard, Prashant Jha of Hindustan Times and others have been forced to quit or sent on leave till further notice for similar offences.
Many are lauding the courage shown by the women in naming and shaming their sexual harassers. But India’s #MeToo movement is not answering all the questions. One question which is pertinent to ask here is why at first place did it happen? What emboldened the men to indulge in such a crime? Was it possible for the victims to protect themselves from the vultures?
First I believe we should reconsider the meaning of ‘success.’ One of the victims while narrating her ordeal mentioned that “I was a successful woman. I smoked and I drank.” Her statement imply that a successful woman smokes and drink or if you are not drinking and smoking then you are not sufficiently successful. If one have such a definition of success then there is a great possibility that they will expose themselves to men having questionable character. There are many women who are successful but does not indulge in smoking and drinking and most importantly knows where to draw the line.
The vulgar shows of AIB were lauded by so called eminent people and so young boys and girls trying hard to be part of the modern society got forced to like such programs. When such men find that their substandard jokes laced with vulgarity gives them instant success they muster courage to send vulgar messages to innocent girls.
This world is filled with good people, not so good people and terrible people. One need to be careful and take all precautionary measures at first place so that people with wrong intention do not get a chance to take undue advantage of them.
Competence without good character does not make a good person. This is why Indian tradition based on teachings of Vedic books not just laid emphasis on material knowledge but also gave great emphasis on character building. And the society never judged a person based on his/her material achievements but his/her overall conduct also mattered a lot.
So those who drink, watch porn and crack vulgar jokes are not progressive whether they are media personalities, business tycoons, movie stars, famous comedians or people from any other field. There are great chances that such people are pervert or on the path of being one.
It is important that we as a society introspect and purge the evil forces who bring disgrace to humanity. This could be possible if we start leading a principle centred life and in the name of modernity do not compromise with our values.
