This refers to the recent remarks by the minister’s wife: Western Culture causes rape; don’t send kids to convent schools.
In recent times it appears that some people have attained the right to a greater “Power of freedom of Speech” than as assured by the Constitution of India to the Aam Admi.
In this case Ms Lata Dhavlikar is either out of sync with the experience of the parents in general in our country or she is trying to gain some cheap popularity by using the same principle which is supposed to have been used by the so called Western Cultures – Divide & Rule. By doing so, she is not only shying away from the real problem but helping to spread the seed of hatred amongst communities.
Goa has had a strong Western Culture – much more than the rest of India for over 450 years and we never had any sort of crime in the state leave alone rapes until of course the recent few decades as is obvious. As far as the schools in Goa are concerned, so far the only rape of a minor in a school that took place was in a non-convent school.
It looks like it has become a fashion amongst the political circles of the present dispensation to blame the victims rather than the rapists and bash the Western culture for all our wrong-doings. I would like to ask Ms Dhavlikar whether she is aware that kids as small as three to six years who have been raped have probably not even gone to school ? Does she know which schools the rapists attended?
Probably they have not even gone to school, leave alone a Convent School. Does she know the difference between a Convent-school and an English medium school or are they all same to her?
Culture it must be remembered, is dynamic and not static. People all over the world are changing their life-styles all the time. If you go to many of the villages in India, where not long ago young girls could be seen in ankle long ghagras, today they are in jeans and tops.
We have done away with our bullock carts for cars and our gilli-danda and kabaddi in favour of cricket. This is more out of convenience and not because of any Convent-schools. After all, radio, mobiles, Television, machines, arms & ammunitions, railways, aircrafts are all inventions of the West.
We are one of the greatest users of all these inventions. Why blame the West for our own short-comings? In his book “Future Shock” Alvin Toffler rightly says “The only thing that is permanent is change”
Arise India- introspect and rectify. Do not blame.
