Another Nupi Lan, another day : The hypocrisy should go
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 13, 2012 -

Nupi Lan being observed at Hojai in Assam and CM paying tributes :: Pix - TSE

Time to reflect. And take a hard, real, sincere look at the reality.

Yet another Nupi Lan day has come and gone and while no stops were pulled to observe the day in line with its significance, crimes against women go unabated.

A land which gave the meira paibi movement to the world, a land which boasts of the Nupi/Ima Keithel, perhaps the only State in India which sets aside a day to remember the heroics of its womenfolk decades back but how safe are the women in today's society ?

Sure Manipur does not have the culture of bride burning or dowry deaths or maybe even female foeticide, but should these be the benchmark to define the status of women ?

Hypocrisy and double standard are terms that come to mind when it comes to the status of women in society, more so among the majority community, the Meiteis.

Place them on a pedestal in the public forum but reduce them to punching bags in the private domain or say within the four walls of the house.

Rapes, murders, molestations, eve teasings, discriminations, sexual harassments are no alien terms in today's Manipur and clearly the gender divide runs deep.

It is the extreme forms of violence that come out on the public domain and for each rape case that comes out in the open, there must be 20 or more cases of wife beating inside the four walls of one's house which go unreported.

If at all the observance of Nupi Lan day or the exalted status accorded on the meira paibi movement has to have any significant meaning, then the hypocrisy has to stop. And this has to start from the smallest unit in the society, the family or each household.

Unpalatable or even disturbing it might be but some questions are definitely in line.

Why is it that sons are preferred over daughters ?

Why is there a social practise that women whose first born child is a son is accorded the honour of leading a procession, especially during occasions like a wedding ?

Why is the character of a woman more questioned than that of a man ?

That the need for Manipur to take part in the Fortnight Observance on Violence Against Women is increasingly being felt says something deeply significant.

Doormat at home, but accorded the status of ‘Ima’ in public and the sheer hypocrisy of it all cannot get clearer than this.

The mindset has to change and for this to happen, it should start from the home. Teach the young children to respect each other, irrespective of gender.

Treat all children equally. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea if some research scholars were to conduct a study on how daughters and sons are treated within the family of the great Manipuri society.

This may help us in better understanding the mindset which has always seen women as the weaker sex.

Fairer sex ? This is a laugh.

A look at the daily newspapers of Imphal will give us the statistics on the rising crime against women, but statistics are mere figures and may not always reflect the truth.

The truth of the matter is, hypocrisy continues to be the order of the day and this is the reason why all and sundry will talk about the significance of Nupi Lan and the meira paibi movement, but will not think twice about lifting their hands against women inside the privacy of their homes or discrimination even at the work place.

It is this mindset, this social conditioning that has to change, if the annual observance of Nupi Lan is to live up to its real significance.