Activists from 10 organisations including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and the Viduthalai Tamil Puligal Katchi (VTPK) staged a protest at Egmore in Chennai on Wednesday, July 26, against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s inaction in Manipur. The protesters stood in solidarity with the two Kuki women who were subjected to extreme sexual violence and paraded naked on the road. A candlelight vigil was also held at the Gandhi Irwin road in Egmore, to pray for those who lost their lives in Manipur’s communal violence.
The Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi (MJK), the Welfare Party of India, Ikkiya Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Makkal Athikaram, and the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) also took part in the protest.
The protesters chanted slogans demanding answers from the ruling party for their inaction in the north-eastern state. They also accused the BJP of having started the communal violence in the state through their slogans. Stella, an AAP worker from Tamil Nadu, said, “Those women are not related to any of us. But as women, we can feel the atrocious nature of the crime and the pain that those young women would have had to endure. I am ashamed to be a woman in this country where such crimes are being committed."
Muhammad Quaz from the Welfare Party of India pointed out the possibility that details of more such atrocities may come out of the state once the internet ban is lifted. “People, especially women, seem to have been hiding in the mountains to avoid being subjected to sexual abuse and murder. That is the situation that the BJP government has pushed women to,” he said.
Political activist Thirumurugan Gandhi raised several questions to BJP leaders. “When Union Minister Amit Shah visited Manipur in June, he would have understood the seriousness of the communal violence, the human rights violations, and the violences against women. Why did he remain silent? Why did Prime Minister Modi remain silent? The BJP chose to ignore it until the video of the two women became viral, forcing the Prime Minister to finally address the atrocities,” he alleged.