WHEN MANU CAME TO KILL RADHIKA, MANU FELL DOWN AT HER FEET 21-JULY-ENG 11

WHEN MANU CAME TO KILL RADHIKA, MANU FELL DOWN AT HER FEET

21-JULY-ENG 11

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-----------------------------Last week, when a large part of Delhi was overflowing like a river, vehicles were drowning, bridges were breaking down everywhere from UP to Gujarat, in the same week, in a big house in a posh area of this national capital, the life of an international tennis player Radhika Yadav was broken, the dreams of a young girl drowned in her own blood. Delhi will dry up sooner or later, but Radhika's blood stains - if their marks and the place where they indicate she was taken are not properly identified - are full of the possibility of bloodshed in many places.

Radhika Yadav was killed by her own father. The postmortem report also made it clear that the claim of the killer father that he was shot from behind was wrong, the bullets were shot in her chest while looking into her eyes. In order to hide the heinous intention behind the murder, hasty attempts were made to give it a Hindu-Muslim angle, but they did not last long – although the Haryana police have seized it and declared it worthy of investigation. It is quite possible that this trickery will be tried sooner or later. But for now, Radhika's close friend has revealed the truth about the torture she was going through before the murder. Terming all rumours and rumours as baseless, Himanshika's gist is that "Radhika's family did not like her sports and cultural interests, imposed strict restrictions on her, monitored her video calls, talked about society's pressure on her, rebuked her for every small and big thing, and asked for explanations from her. She was suffocated. She was stopped from talking to boys, even from wearing shorts. Radhika lived on her own terms, which her family did not like. To stop all this, they ultimately killed her."

Her father has also said the same thing in a different way. He said that people in his village and relatives used to taunt him about his daughter. According to the police, in his view, "no other motive has come to light except that he asked his daughter to close the academy after being taunted by the villagers." This means that this murder was not done in a moment of anger or rage, it was done after planning with a cool mind. A talented player was murdered only because she was interested in her kind of creativity, she used to train children, she taught them to play, she liked music.

She was killed only because her actions were ruining the 'honor and prestige' of the family. Her father had to face taunts from the "society". This murder was done by those who did not live in some remote village or hamlet unfamiliar with modernity, but lived in Gurgaon - which is now said to be called Gurugram - one of the rich settlements of modern and developed India. This murder was done in an upper middle class family about which it is believed that it has come out of conservatism.

This is New India - Modi's New India. This is the taunting ‘society’ that is being nurtured in this new India; these are the standards of its ‘honor and prestige’, which equip a father with the barbarity of killing his own daughter and calling it ‘murder’. This does not mean that the India before this was a paradise for young girls and women – not at all. But it was ready to come out of the hellish conditions. It was not completely morning, but the arrival of the light of dawn had started to be seen. A positive change was taking place, albeit slowly, in the consciousness and awakening of the society; the determination of women to be free from the shackles and to fight for it was getting stronger. Through debates, movements, struggles and positive steps taken under their pressure, centuries-old chains were being loosened, which were melted in the blazing fire of some memories, cast in the rigid moulds of many codes, and were worn from head to toe on Indian society, especially women, by calling them ornaments in the name of traditions.

All this is being reversed in Modi's New India - which is actually the New India of the Sangh that believes in Manusmriti. It is as if a storm of backward consciousness has been brought in carrying the flag of Manu. Radhika Yadav has fallen prey to that storm. It was not Deepak Yadav, it was Manu, who this time came with a gun in his hand to 'kill' Radhika who was crossing the limits set by Manu. His use of the word 'vadh' instead of murder is not without reason; he knows the difference between murder and slaughter. He knows that according to the scriptures, killing of demons and asuras, bad people, is a pious deed.

The Manu Smriti, which the BJP parent organisation is determined to replace the Constitution of India, is a text that lays down rules about the status of women in great detail. Its Chapter 9 contains more than 300 verses that give detailed provisions for the treatment of women: One of these verses says that “in all castes, it should be given the highest priority to keep a watch on wives and women.”

Another verse says that “considering the kind of mentality God had given to women when they were created, it is necessary that men keep a close watch on them.”

Another infamous verse in the Manu Smriti provides that “in childhood, she should be kept under the protection of her husband and mother.”

A woman should live under the protection of her father in her youth, under the protection of her husband in her youth and under the protection of her sons in her old age. A woman is never capable of being independent."

Another shloka instructs that "the men in the family should keep the woman as their slave day and night and take sensual pleasure whenever they want, and should always keep the woman under their control." It was Manusmriti that became a major reason for India's slavery. This is the reason why most of the political and social reform movements that were launched during the freedom movement considered Manusmriti a curse and launched campaigns to free the society from its ill effects. But there were some people who did not consider the slavery of the British as a curse even at that time. Who even then considered Manusmriti to be the only proper and systematic provision for ruling India. These are the few people who later got organized as RSS and who opposed the great struggle for independence. The public rejected them then. The circumstances changed a bit, but the revivalist gang continued its efforts. The result of polluting the social thinking as soon as the reins of power came into its hands for the last 11 years reached Radhika Yadav's house on July 10.

They never abandoned Manusmriti - they repeatedly reiterated their dedication towards it. RSS - which wants to rule on the basis of Manusmriti, its thoughts in the words of Guru Golwalkar: “Killing an innocent woman is sinful, but this principle does not apply to a demoness.” – Who is a demoness? Who does not believe in the words of his Manu. In this context, he tells a story in which a lover, who fails to convince his family for marriage, kills his girlfriend by strangling her and she does not feel any pain.

He has said many times that women are primarily mothers. Their job is to give birth to children, nurture them, and give them values. This is not just the statement of a ‘Guruji’, this is the law of the Hindu nation of the Sangh, which has been repeated again and again by the later Sarsanghchalaks as well. Sita Annadanam, the leader of its women’s wing Rashtra Sevika Samiti, also believes the same. She said that “In our traditions, there should be a balance between women’s rights. Share in father’s property is not our culture. The way it is written in the scriptures, it should be done – there is no such thing as marital rape – this is a western concept. Equality, parity, democracy, all are western concepts.”

These were also implemented from time to time. When Shivraj Singh Chauhan was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, a special "arrangement" was announced in the name of "safety" of women, which was for the police to keep an eye on them and monitor their movements. According to Shivraj's statement, "all the women who go to work or work in Madhya Pradesh will have to register themselves in their police station, so that the police can track them, meaning they can be monitored." This arrangement, which started with working women, will later be brought under surveillance of all girls, college students and other women who go out of their homes. This is the thinking due to which no law was brought against the so-called honor killings during these 11 years of rule.

It is certain that in this era of shrinking of democracy, where it was already shrinking, it will shrink even more. In a society where social democracy exists only for the name sake, family democracy is completely absent, the restoration of Manu will not stop at just making the centuries-old mud and moss flourish, it will also usurp the gains of the social reform movements that have been going on in the last one and a half to two centuries.

There is a story in the history of Indian philosophy. A debate was going on in Janak's court. On one side was Yagyvalkya, the proponent of the theory of rebirth and karma and the inferiority of women and the superiority of Brahminism, on the other side was Gargi, the niece of Yagyvalkya's guru's wife and a vocal opponent of all these beliefs. When Yagyavalkya was about to lose the debate that lasted for two days and became speechless, he shouted, “Gargi, don’t ask the next question, otherwise your head will fall off your body.” Gargi replied to him, “Yagya, your language is not the language of a scholar, only those with blood-stained hands can speak like this.” Gargi was stopped from speaking. Yagyavalkya was declared the winner. He got thousands of beautiful maids, countless gold coins, thousands of cows as a reward.

The conversation between Gargi and her aunt Lopa, hurt by this insult, is interesting. Rahul Sankrityayan records it in Volga to Ganga: Lopa says, “You are a child Gargi. You know that this Brahmavaad is the flight of the mind, the acrobatics of the mind. There is a huge selfishness of kings and Brahmins hidden behind this. This is a great means of strengthening the power of the king and the Brahmin. Many people do not understand this. Even King Janak might not have understood, I also did not understand, but my husband Pravahan understood and Yagyavalkya, who is his true disciple, understands it completely. This is a way to eat the hard earned money of the public for free. This is Rajvaad, Brahmanvaad, Yagyavaad. No one can save the people from this trap until they themselves become aware and these selfish people do not like to let them become aware. Will the human heart not inspire us to hate this deprivation? Daughter, I have only hope for that.

Lopa's only hope was from the human heart. That is why the clan of human beings has come up with a mega project to make the society heartless. After the brutal murder of Radhika, this is being done on social media Kapalik Nritya is a part of this project!! This is what is seen in those frustrated cowards who are maligning Radhika without any proof or basis, who have started a campaign of 'Salute Deepak Yadav' for the killer father. Citing the alleged amount of two and a half crores spent by him on tennis and the fees paid for school education, they are claiming that the father who gave him wings to fly is being abused.

Many of them are also praising the killer for the fact that instead of shooting on the back, he fired bullets directly on the chest. Needless to say, with what thinking these jackals who are making noise in praise of the killer have brought so much hatred and toxicity. They are speaking the same language, which Manu had spoken some two thousand years ago - giving the same instructions, which Manu keeps giving. These barbarians, who justify such honour killings, are demanding that rules and norms be set for the marriage of girls as per scriptures and strictly enforced. One can only imagine what kind of life the women of their own homes, their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters will be cursed to live.

In the story written above, when Yagyvalkya silenced Gargi by threatening to kill her, Janak was silent. Today Janak and Yagyvalkya are united. The confinement and silence of half the population that began with the forced silencing of Gargi pushed who knows how many Lopas, Apala and Maitreyis into darkness, how many Radhikas were killed. If this confinement and silence is to be broken, then the Gargis will have to take risks – and they are taking them too. They are coming out on the streets for their rights, risking their lives too. But this is not just about Gargis and Radhikas. Those who want a civilized and democratic society and a human world will also have to speak up. Instead of becoming Janak or his courtiers, we will have to speak out against the silencing of everyone from Gargi to Radhika.