Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally spoke out on Manipur, after 79 days of violence. It took a viral video of a horrific crime against two tribal women* to finally break his silence.

It’s a welcome move, I thought at first, in hopes that his uttering something could help stop the ethnic conflict going on in the Northeastern state since May 3. But after listening to what he said, I feel it would have been better if he hadn’t said anything at all.

Here’s what he said:

“Beizzati pure desh ki ho rahai hai,” said the Prime Minister. “The whole country has been shamed.”

He said: “Manipur ki jo ghatana saamne ayi hai kisi bhi sabhya samaj ke liye ye sharmasar karne wali ghatna hai. Paap karne wale, gunah karne wale kitne hain, kaun hain wo apni jagah pe hai, lekin beizzati pure desh ki ho rahi hai. 140 crore people logon ko sharmasar hona pad raha hai.“

Translated:

“The Manipur incident that has come to light is something any civilised society will be ashamed of. Those who have sinned, those who have committed the crime are in one place; but the whole country has been shamed (by the incident). One hundred and forty crore people have been shamed.”

–Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

Sorry, but this is not what you expect to hear from the Prime Minister of the country. Those who are hailing his statement are only happy that he has broken his silence, gotten over with the formalities that come with the duties and responsibilities of the PM’s chair. If anyone actually listened to what he said, they’d be sad. His short statement is problematic on several counts.

First, did you notice that he is condemning only this one single incident? As if this incident is a one-off case in an otherwise peaceful environment. Manipur has been burning since May 3. According to the Manipur government’s own records, 142 people have been killed until July 4. Thousands of homes have been burnt down. Horrible acts of human rights abuses have been committed. Not a word from the PM. He took out time to praise the film The Kerala Story during his address in poll-bound Karnataka. He went on tours to the US, France and other countries. He never paused to say anything to the people of Manipur who have been gasping for his attention for over two months.

Second–and this is shocking–the reason for him to condemn this particular incident. It is bringing shame to the nation. It’s the classic “log kya kahenge” (what will the people talk) response. Cannot imagine the head of a state being troubled by an incident ONLY because it is shameful. Sorry, Prime Ministerji, that’s not why you condemn an incident. You do so because it is wrong on its own accord; because it is a violation of human rights and the laws of the land that you have been elected to govern.

Third– to give credit where it’s due–he’s being honest. The PM is concerned what the incident will do to the image of India and, by extension, his own image. He was responding to the viral video, not the crime that happened more than two months ago. More than the crime per se, it’s the knowledge of the crime that spread fast with the video going viral he seems to have more problems with. If it was the crime that had horrified him, he would have spoken out long ago. There were many opportunities.

The husband of one of the victims registered the complaint with the police on May 18. Two Manipuri women and a Manipur tribal association approached the National Commission for Women on June 12. There were some media reports too on this, and several other cases of sexual assaults on women. But nothing happened. Everyone kept quiet, including the Prime Minister.

Now, everyone from crony journalists to the PM are talking about the ghastly incident. Arrests have been made and the National Commission for Women has said it is taking “suo moto action”. Goes on to show that if they had willed, they could have acted much earlier.

Sorry, Pradhanmantriji, it’s too little too late.

* I have deliberately not shared the video or a screen grab of it. I have also decided not to delve into details, which are of common knowledge anyway by now. I have been a bit disturbed–I can almost smell a voyeuristic thrill–by the way people have been sharing the video or talking about the details of the case.

Yesterday, a journalist sent me the video on Whatsapp. Then he messaged me twice saying it’s about Manipur, perhaps hoping for me to thank him for the exclusive video that he got from someone on the ground. I didn’t watch. I won’t watch it. I deleted it. Apart from the fact that I cannot bring myself to watch such torturous acts, I do not think anyone needs to watch the video (unless you are investigating the crime) to know it’s a horrific crime and condemn it.