Charity Begins at Home: A Response To Mob Lynching in Dimapur

   

image credit:76crimes.com

The rape incident of February 23 and thereafter lynching of the alleged rapist by the mob has got a mixed response and condemnation from various part of the country. What coincides with the incident is the releasing of a documentary by Leslie Udwin of the BBC called “India’s daughter” which was based on the December 16, 2012, rape incident in Delhi and which is now banned in India but has gone viral on YouTube and other torrents. This documentary interview the convicts of 16 December where one accused blame the girl for their actions and causing an uproar even in the parliament. After the banned was imposed on the film by the government Leslie Udwin called the Indian society a "sick society" which perhaps is true.

How healthy is our society today? The debate on rape, misogyny or feminism revolves around patriarchy which the modern critics are trying to dismantle. But the recent case in Dimapur seems to be two-fold, one targeted against patriarchy (the role of the Naga youth in the crime) and more specifically at the IBIs. The IBI is the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who came in through the porous Indo-Bangla border via Assam in search of land, employment, and livelihood. These immigrant influxes have created a lot of rippling effects in the Northeast in recent years leading to violence and even displacing thousands of innocent indigenous civilians. The problems cause by IBIs and migrant workers have been raised in the public platform for a while now and the parading of an alleged rapist that succumbed to his injury sum up the public outrage. Illegal immigrants and migrants have become part of our society and some even members of family “Naganised” and protected and many are part of the contributing factors in the development of our economy and to get rid of them without any concrete legislation will have a serious backlash within the state and beyond.

     By getting rid of them, does it means there will be no cross-cultural discourse and we will remain exclusive, exotic, or ethnocentric in our outlook? As long as this larger question of IBI and migrant workers are not solved by the states whose people and land are affected than shooting in Thangal Bazar (Manipur), killing in Kokhrazar (Assam) and arson in Dimapur (Nagaland) will continue unabated. Though Inner Line Permit (ILP) remains in place, the situation of an unregulated influx of both IBI and migrants persist and the development of Look East Policy (LEP) will bring about more of unprecedented problems. And if it goes unchecked a close-knitted society will be deranged and different types of social evil will emerge.

What is more serious than a moral breakdown? If we measure our lives today by the western notion of culture we don’t have to be shocked by the recent incident. But if we measure it with our cultural values there is a total failure in the society. The question is whether this traditional notion of value system can withhold the onslaught of modern values. Or shall the blame game be directed towards man-made institutions like civil societies, churches, and government who by themselves are helpless? Responsibility, civility, and accountability finally rest in the hands of the citizens. The introduction of western culture has undermined our cultural values, the increased standard of living vis-a-vis lowering of the moral standard is the paradox of our time and can be generalized for Nagas living in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland or for that matter Myanmar. 

A society where beauty is measured by the amount of makeup and length of the skirt and standard of living by the number of cars and vehicles in the garage makes no sense. The irony is that the God rush in the 20th century has to turn into the gold rush in the 21st century which literally conveys the nature of society from God-centered to self-centered society. The debate will continue but the solution lies within us and not necessarily in the high sounding law and the church.

Mobocracy is a dangerous paradigm where anarchy prevails. The IBIs and migrant workers have penetrated inside knowing the moral loophole in a society which we ourselves have created and cultivated. The assertion of every known space by outsiders has created this dilemma. And certain things which we take for granted is turning our society into a disturbed society with no pillar of hope in all spheres (political, social, economic, cultural). The situation now seems to have reached a tipping point and it is no more a wakeup call for the society anymore but a time to act, walk the talk and perhaps act as a model society for others. Instead of throwing our towns, village, society out of gear, it will be imperative if this time is used to retrospect the minute of our every action. If we do that, the good society we always dream of will dawn sooner or later?

The challenges before us are not necessarily the IBI or migrant workers. We have to put our house, schools, churches, society, and government in order. We are equally responsible for the crimes around us. This may be a time to rebuild our society which has become a utopia. Emotional outburst in road, streets, social media bring awareness and discussions and debate is part of everyday society but freedom can be restricted if it violates the rights of others. There seems to be a need for a broader social framework that can outline where the society can move forward instead of labeling others as outlaw outrightly. Reverence for values, norms, culture has to be cultivated again and redirect our thinking and mindset towards women, children, elders, and perhaps outsiders. The imaginary notoriety that everyone from outside is illegal and are criminal minded state our lack of rational thinking. Social harmony is based on cooperation.

The killing of an alleged rapist or parading naked is not a solution; if that’s what we called nipping in the bud we are losing our sensibility. The rationality should be allowing the law to take its own course as emotional outbursts without rationality can have serious repercussions. The alleged rapist bears the brunt of his heinous crime and the perceived and real fear of Nagas emanating from the IBIs and migrants. How good and beneficial it will be if we channeled the energy to build a morally sound society with the same sense of urgency. Delhi after the Nirbhaya incident has not much change, rape continues unabated but then there is a large amount of awareness among the general public due to the mass uproar, media and active law enforcement. And perhaps the end result is the coming of a self-proclaimed anarchist, Arvind Kejriwal to power who has promise better security and safety for the people and women in particular.

Our problem is not in the bylanes of our colony or streets but a society where there is the absence of social cohesion, age-old values are lost and community feeling are radicalized. The hardworking, honest nature of our people is history, and what culminates is an intolerant society. We are equally responsible for what is becoming of our society. “Dimapur Spring” can be a starting point to launch a credible movement in order to solve the problem of illegal immigrants and migrants and to reshape and restructured a fail and ill society.

This article was written in response to alleged rape and lynching of an alleged rapist and was published in leading newspapers in Nagaland such as Nagaland Post, Nagaland Page, Morung Express on 7th March 2015.