Freedom without fear

Activist Kavita Krishnan talks in Oz on leading the charge against sexual violence in India

''

"Women have EVERY right to be adventurous And we WILL be adventurou s. Don't tell us how to dress, what time of night or day is safe, how many people need to e scort us"

Kavita Krishnan

'

( - BY I ·. DIPANJALI RAO

Bekbauf Azaadi!

Freedom without fea r ! This chant reverberated in the streets o f Delhi followi ng the horrific gang rape i.n 2012 that shoo k India. Politician and activist Kavita Krishnan was one of the first to join the movement. Soft spoken and unassuming, she is the secremr y of the A.11 India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWJ\ ) and a member of the Communist Party of fodia (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI -ML). In 2013 she responded to the prevalent victim bl aming culture and accusations of victims ' 'advenmrous' be hav io ur w ith a fiery speech : "\'v'omen have EVERY right co be adventurous!

And we WILL be adventurous!

Don't cell us how tO dress, what time of night or day is safe, how many peopl e need tO escort us We shouldn't need to take measures to protect ourselves (from rape). Wle want freedom without fear.

Bekhmtf azaad1'. The speech went viral. Kavita Kcislman toured Australia in June on a speaking tour on the movement against sexual violence in India.

Tndia11 Link caught up with her in Melbourne.

She began by explaining the movement and AlPWA's involvement "The re was huge 10 anger amongst people ," she said. "Everyon e was demand ing the death penalty. People were getting sexist rubbish from politicians and self-righteous stuff about rapists being put to death. But th ere wa s something new; slogans against v ictim blaming: 'Don't cell me how to dress, tell them how n ot to rape'. We felt we could deepen and expand this conversation".

Of her speech that went viral she said, "People were l ooking fo r something like that".

"We need co keep working on it," said Kavita of the momentum of the movement. "There is no room for complacence".

She cited M u zzafarnagar in Utrar Pradesh and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu where right wing political parties have mobilised su pport demanding that Hindu women be protected from Muslim men and upper caste women be protected from Dalir men.

"This is a political attempt to rum tbe awakening lllst year on its head," she rued, "so chat we s tart imagining that in stead of safeguarding women's right to be free, we need co safeguard chem from certain communities like Datits and Muslims".

On what we can expect fro m Narendra Modi's government, Kavica stated, "It's earl y days yet. fostead of predicting, let's see what the government does" She made three demands of the governm ent, the first one being to acknowledge and criminalise marital rape. The second demand is to remove the impunity that the armed forces en joy against rape complaints. Third, decriminalise homosexuality. She went on to talk about the imp uni ty that organised right wing groups have in limiting the freedom of yo ung peop le, especially women.

"The Bajrang Dal, a Sangh Parivar outfit close to BJP, and their student body ABVP very regularly attack young people o n Val entine's Day and threaten that they will force them to tie Rakhis," she said. She hoped the government will rein them in. "Modi can't say 'good times for Indians' if they are not democratic ti m es," s he reflected. Democratic or not, Mod i's popularity is u nquestionable.

"People are ve ry glib," said Kavita matter of factly, ''in saying that cl1e Supreme Court SIT (Special Investigation Team) didn't find him guil ty. Bm we must ask questions. Why were cl1e dead bodies from the Godhra train fire allowed by M odi to be displayed in the procession by cl1e Vishva Hindu Parisad (VHP)? On cl1e next day, why did Modi mention the Hindus chat were killed, but not the Muslims? He mid the SIT that his police officers didn't tell him. So why didn't Modi take action against t hese police officers?"

Krishnan also talks about the Modi government in Gujarat conducting illegal surveillance on a young woman. "Was it Modi who is referred to as the 'Sahib' in cl1e Sn opegace tapes?" demanded Kavita. "We deserve ro know, bu t instead we are pretending none of this matters; wh ich is very dangerous for the country."

About cl1e BJP's popularity amongst the lndian diaspora, Kavim ventured chat Indians overseas do not see a nd experience tbe social change in lndia, and hang onco a te.'{tbook version of Indian and Hindu cul ture

''They d on't realise that the freed~)m they en joy here wouldn't be available to them in say, BJP ruled Karnataka when the Shri Ram Sene was aroun d," Kav:ica said. "Women in Mangalore have been attacked going to work w ith a mal e friend. If they (Indians overseas) were living in India, their perspective would be different".

Kavita's activism against gender violence, caste a n d communal politics h as attracted vicious trolling. She was threatened with rape on a live chat about gender violence "lc's crazy!" she exclaims and explains cl1at trolling isn't fuuited to social media, it also happens on live television.

Politician Subramanian Swamy said she s tands for 'free sex' during a debate on national TV. "It cook me a wh ile ro develop a thick skin," she said About how she copes, she says, "I read a lot of detective fiction!

Ian Rankin, Sara Peretsky, Kate Ross. 1 also listen to Hindustani and Carnarak music. I love the veena!"

I mention that I do a b it of Carnatik singing and her eyes light up. "Have you read T.M. Krishna?" she asked enthusiastically "l'm reading his book abom bow Brahminism

Kavita's activi sm against gender violence, caste and communal politics has attracted vicious trolling is pervasive in Carnatik music. I'm hooked!" she laughed. \Y/e talked a bit more about music and I promised to send her a link co a folk rock renclition of Tyagaraja's 'Bantureethi' by a band called Agam. "I'd love that," she said warmly. "And you read T.M. Krishna," she said with a conspiratorial smile. "His w r itings should be mandatory for (privi.leged) Indians everywhere".

Testimonia ls ··1 finally got 8.5 for writing. You have excep1io11al teacher~ at Education Hub a nd I would never have got this score wi1hout thcir help". Sava11i ,l;Jandu/a Dissanyake (Sri Lanka/ BAND 8

"T hrough the help, patience and hard work I can finally get nl) nursing registration. You guys a re awesome and no" I am a nurse" El!fi·ocina Alday (Phi/lipinesJ BAND 7

··1 achieved my score "ilh :i mere one week of your training. Education Hub has ex~el len1 1ead1ers". Rajat Singo/a (India) BAND6