Rhea Chakravorty doesn't deserve a troll attack for being Bengali

There seems to be nothing that Sushant Singh Rajput’s (SSR) suicide case has not touched. His girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty is in the news for ongoing investigations including one for using jadu tonaa (witchcraft). However in this social media frenzy, trigger happy 'experts' are using all kinds of slur and targeting Rhea for her Bengali roots. One person tweeted, “Stay safe men and boys, Bengali girls are dominating, they know how to make guys fall for them. They catch big fish, good looking highly paid guys. If you want to be her servant and financier and are okay to leave your family and join her family the go ahead.” This tweet is wrong on so many levels. And it has nothing to do with the actual questioning and investigations that are on. 

A woman against a woman

The first thing that hit me was the fact that it was a tweet by a woman against another woman. Where has all the feeling of sisterhood gone? Can one can hate so much that you forget you are bringing down your own community in one sentence. The #womensupportingwomen trending a few days back seems so hollow now. The case is under probe and we should give authorities a chance to clear the air and not become judgemental. 

Case of witch hunting

For long women have been branded witches for standing up for themselves for voicing their thoughts. Remember Joan of Arc and the Inquisition during medieval Europe. 

Branding women witches is not new to India as well. We keep reading news of women especially widows being declared a witch to protect family property from being divided. We hear of a woman being possessed by evil spirits if she opens her mouth against injustice. 

What I find fascinating is that a woman’s character is assassinated first if that doesn’t work then she is branded a witch who does jadu tona. Which happened in the case of Rhea Chakraborty too. But what disturbed me was the fact that it were women who were doing this to her. 

Let me make it clear now, I am not supporting Chakraborty, she may or may not be at fault, let the justice system decide this. All I am saying is let’s not witch hunt, hound her, and let’s hear her point of view without regional biases.  

Women, Bengali women and their Aura

“Stay safe men/boys, Bengali girls are dominating, they know how to make guys fall for them. They catch big fish, good looking highly paid guys.”

For long I have admired Bengali women for their cerebral sharpness, their beauty, for carrying ethnic wear like a goddess, the fact that they are proficient in an art like singing, dancing or painting other than cooking their typical cuisine and are writers and journalists. To put the record straight Bengal had led the way of women emancipation and women’s education far ahead of the rest of the country, from the time of our freedom struggle. And so many Bengali households made sure their girls got an education, where free to take up any profession, were free to choose their partners. Does having a mind of their own make them dominating? Is it their fault that men find them attractive and not just for their ‘looks’? 

And the servant and financier part, what was that? That if the partner of woman considers her his equal, respects her, shares household chores, spends his earnings on her does he become her servant? Did she mean that women should be treated as servants instead? And what is wrong if a guy decides to join his wife’s family instead of her leaving her family behind and being part of his family? Isn’t this what all patriarchal societies advocate? Shouldn’t we be supporting the breaking of stereotypes and moulds? 

But, yes this incident did point out to the fact that patriarchy is so ingrained in our minds that we don’t think before uttering anything and putting women on the back foot who are fighting these very patriarchal norms.   

If we have to fight injustices meted out to women then we have to be on the same page. A divided house cannot win. 

Views are the author's own, and not of SheThePeople