Are candle marches effective?

By Ruhani Khanna

Mahatma Gandhi said that an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind but you know what:

I WOULD RATHER BE BLIND,

THAN BE ANOTHER OPEN CASE.

I WOULD RATHER BE BLIND,

THAN BECOME ANOTHER DUSTY FILE IN THE CORNER OF A DESK.

I WOULD RATHER BE BLIND,

THAN BECOME ANOTHER STATISTIC.

I WOULD RATHER BE BLIND,

THAN BE FOUND INJURED AND HALF NAKED.

I WOULD RATHER BE BLIND,

THAN DEAD.

I did not go to the candle march today. I couldn’t bring myself to, because I don’t think that it will change anything or anyone. For those living in a shell, here is some context:

On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was murdered in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College. Doctors have held protests at many places including Punjab and Haryana demanding safety for healthcare professionals at work space and a nationwide strike is currently being held by Indian Medical Association (IMA).

The Rotary Club of Jal. Helping Hands, in collaboration with many other organizations, held a candle march, a peaceful protest in response to the horrifying incident that took place in Kolkata but I couldn’t bring myself to go.

The statement above strikes the obvious question: why?

Well because I think that a candle march is a very “PEACEFUL” and “CUTE” response to an incident as horrifying and heartbreaking as this one. I do not think that walking from point A to B or that lighting candles will bring change. Sounds Pessimistic? Well before you judge me for it, I would like to draw, your attention towards another terrifying incident:

Allegedly, another horrifying incident took place with a woman in Uttar Pradesh on her way back from a candle march, held there to address the Kolkata case and to show solidarity with the victim. She must have gone there with hope in her heart for justice and for change. I can only imagine how she must have regretted having that expectation from her motherland. She left home with the ambition to bring change, only to become yet another statistic.

We failed her, just as we failed millions of others who became dusty files, open cases and forgotten statistics.

The problem is much more deep rooted than we realize. The fact that a gender as a whole is taught to mend their ways because “boys will be boys” is baffling.

A peaceful procession will not solve this. An action as violent as this deserves a reaction as violent if not more. Even if those responsible for this are shot dead I don’t think it will be sufficient. When men in our country are as afraid to catcall women, as women currently are while walking alone on the streets in the middle of the night, will I truly consider my country to be free.

And as I pen down my feelings with boiling blood for others to read and judge, I’m sure that there will be people who say that “You have generalised men based on one extreme example.” or that “Tit for tat is not the recipe for change”, but I beg to differ. The gender as a whole needs to do better and so do us as a society that breeds culprits. It’s high time!