Journalist and author Kota Neelima is a Gandhian at heart, she says, which is why she’s not going to balk at a threat issued by a protesting right-wing group, and instead unpack her things and head straight to the venue of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), an annual cultural event in Rajasthan’s capital city that draws writers, publishers and readers from across the globe.
In a letter to a local television channel the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, the chief agitators against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama Padmaavat, has threatened to stop Neelima from participating at the literature festival till she apologized for a column she wrote for the DNA newspaper highlighting crimes against women in Rajasthan and the misplaced sense of priority of the men defending them through protests across states, based on their belief that the film insulted Rajput pride.
“Frankly, I am baffled. I honestly don’t know why they have taken offense,” Neelima told HuffPost India over the phone from Jaipur. “There is a long list of crimes committed every year against hundreds and thousands of women in India as recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau. I simply mentioned that those fighting for the honour of Rajput women, should better employ themselves by taking up the fight for women’s rights instead,” she said.
“You can’t identify honour in a way that’s convenient to you. It can’t be subjective to the interpretations of a community. What I would consider honorable is a woman’s right to walk freely on the road. When she can stay in a marriage and not face domestic violence. These revolutionaries should take up those causes.”
In her 19 January column, Neelima writes:
Now, women can also be made to commit suicide; the Karni Sena has threatened that women will commit ‘jauhar’ or self-immolation if the movie, Padmaavat, is released. The protest is not against the death of Padmavati herself in the story, but against a creative interpretation of her exposure to the public gaze. Karni Sena has protested in the past against movies to safeguard the notion of women as symbols of ‘honour’ of a caste or a religious community. Questions arise; why doesn’t Karni Sena protest against demeaning ‘item numbers’ done by women in movies? Why doesn’t Karni Sena threaten violence to stop the use of sexual assault as a weapon in Indian cinema? Has Karni Sena protested against depiction of women as submissive and men in dominant roles?
“The discourse on ‘jauhar’ is a sad state of commentary, how can they fight for the honour of women by using a tool which is symbolic of subjugation,” she said, referring to the centuries-old practice, especially among the aristocracy in warrior clans of India, of women’s mass self-immolation after the death of their husbands. There’s no absolute proof that the practice was purely voluntary and many historians believe that it was performed to “save” women from rape and plunder. Sati, a similar custom in which widows self-immolated in their husband’s funeral pyre, was outlawed in 1829. The glorification of the practice as “an act of courage” could set a dangerous trend as is evident from the ominous vow by Rajput women to commit jauhar if Bhansali’s film gets released.
Research by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in 2017, based on the 2011 Census, found that Rajasthan had reported the highest numbers of child marriages. It ranked third in the country in the number of rapes recorded, and had the lowest literacy rate for women in the country.
A film’s fictional depiction of Rajput women should have been the last cause for worry for any organisation from the state concerned about women affairs. The Sena objected to lead actress Deepika Padukone’s titular character Padmavati’s imagined dalliance with Muslim invader Alauddin Khilji, even before the release of the film, and despite repeated protestations from the filmmakers that there’s no such plot point.
On Wednesday, protestors blocked Gurgaon’s Wazirpur-Pataudi road and security was heightened in Chittorgarh, the backdrop of the epic poem by Malik Muhammad Jayasi based on the life of Rajput queen Padmini, or Padmavati.
News agency ANI quoted police commissioner of Ahmedabad, AK Singh, as saying that cops managed to stop protesters from entering multiplexes. Forty people were detained from various locations in Gujarat for rioting.
Here’s the letter that the Sena sent to the FirstIndia News channel of Rajasthan:
The violence continued after Sena Chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi said his group “will not allow Padmaavat to be screened in India at any cost”.
Neelima said she is was not worried in particular.
“I am at heart a Gandhian, if they (the Sena) stop me at JLF, I will try to reason with them. I truly believe I hope they see my point,” Neelima, who has worked as a journalist for 22 years and is in JLF to talk about her new book ‘Widows of Vidarbha, Making of Shadows’, documenting the plight of women affected by suicides of farmers due to farm distress in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, Prasoon Joshi, is also expected to get security cover at Jaipur lit fest after threats from the Karni Sena, angry at the CBFC for clearing the movie for release. #KhabarLive
I simply want to mention I am just newbie to weblog and honestly enjoyed this page. Most likely I’m going to bookmark your blog post . You definitely come with terrific stories. Thanks a lot for sharing with us your web-site.
MetroClick specializes in building completely interactive products like Photo Booth for rental or sale, Touch Screen Kiosks, Large Touch Screen Displays , Monitors, Digital Signages and experiences. With our own hardware production facility and in-house software development teams, we are able to achieve the highest level of customization and versatility for Photo Booths, Touch Screen Kiosks, Touch Screen Monitors and Digital Signage. Visit MetroClick at http://www.metroclick.com/ or , 121 Varick St, New York, NY 10013, +1 646-843-0888
Hi there, just turned out to be receptive to your writings through Bing and yahoo, and have found that it is truly informational. I’ll appreciate should you decide continue this approach.
Exceedingly useful information that you have stated, thank you for setting up.
After research just a few of the weblog posts on your web site now, and I really like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark web site record and might be checking back soon. Pls check out my web page as well and let me know what you think.
Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, terrific blog!
Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog. Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Thank you
I really desire to advise you that I am new to blog posting and completely adored your article. More than likely I am prone to save your blog post . You simply have amazing article information. Appreciate it for sharing with us your current internet site write-up
Quite informative data that you have stated, thanks for adding.
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have developed some nice methods and we are looking to swap solutions with other folks, why not shoot me an email if interested.
Right now it sounds like Movable Type is the top blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A small number of my blog readers have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any advice to help fix this issue?
Good day I am so thrilled I found your site, I really found you by error, while I was looking on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a fantastic post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome job.
I do not know if it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else encountering issues with your website. It appears as if some of the text within your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them too? This may be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen before. Cheers
Google
Below youll find the link to some websites that we believe you ought to visit.
Google
Sites of interest we have a link to.
Comments are closed.