Kerala’s #MeToo wave: Tharoor calls for changes in ‘overall attitude in Indian society’

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday (August 30) said “there must be something wrong with Indian men if we can’t address this problem”, referring to the issue of violent crimes against women and in the context of the flood of sexual assault allegations against men in the Kerala film industry.

In an interview with NDTV, Tharoor called for changes in the “overall attitude in Indian society”.

While welcoming the exposure of incidents of sexual assault of women and men in the Malayalam cine field resulting in the registration of police cases and resignations from film bodies, he said the real battle for gender equality lies in correcting what he called the “degradation” of Indian society.

‘Not much has changed since Nirbhaya’

He said that crimes against women in India are not something recent and have always been there, but they had gained greater public attention since the Nirbhaya tragedy in 2012 when a young woman was gang-raped and murdered in Delhi. However, despite the public outcry and demonstrations, a young trainee woman doctor was raped and murdered in RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata this month, showing that nothing much seems to have changed during the past 12 years.

He recalled a conversation he had with Sheila Dikshit, the late former Delhi chief minister, during which they discussed the need for “serious gender sensitivity instruction for schoolboys from a very young age”.

The Congress MP stressed the need for “systematic change” to prevent the occurrence of such crimes in the future.

‘Proud that Kerala is leading this #MeToo wave’

He said he was disappointed by the several allegations of sexual assault, but he was proud that his home state of Kerala was leading this #MeToo wave in India. He spoke about growing up in a home of strong women – his mother and his two sisters who were independent women with strong views.

He criticised Kerala’s CPI(M) government for sitting on the Hema Committee report for five years, and said it was inexcusable. He said the report should have been “released on the spot”.

‘A system that allowed this to happen’

Regarding the resignations of senior Malayalam film personalities from state government panels and from AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Actors) citing moral responsibility, Tharoor said it was not enough.

“The fact is, they presided over a system that allowed this to happen,” he said.

Need for basic facilities for women at workspaces

The Thiruvananthapuram MP also highlighted the need to ensure basic facilities for women at their workspaces, whether it is in hospitals or on film sets, like toilets and restrooms for women.

“Women should be recognised as having the right to their own space and being free of interference there,” said Tharoor.

He said that men who invaded that space should be told that such misbehaviour would warrant very severe punishment.

Independent forum for women to lodge complaints

Tharoor emphasised that there’s a need for an independent forum where women can register their complaints, because if the industry is “complicit”, then there has to be a tribunal with outside people in it.

He said that one of the biggest tragedies in situations of sexual harassment at the workplace is that women need the job or the money or the opportunity and feel that sexual assault is the price to pay.

He concluded that women had experienced this in every film industry for generations, and it was something that should not be allowed.