Prime Minister Modi Owes India's Daughters an Apology

The PM will have to tell us how he plans to tackle rape and rape apologists, writes Priya Ramani.

It’s time PM Modi returned the favour to the young women of this country who have faced so much unchecked violence since he came to power—some of it in the days after the PM and his coterie were busy getting the country to light diyas to celebrate his birthday.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi owes Indian women a video apology. I don’t care which angle he shoots it from, where and at what time he releases it, what slang he uses in an attempt to connect with us, whether or not he’s aided by a teleprompter, or what he chooses to wear when he finally tells us he’s sorry.

Of course, it won’t have quite the same ring as “I am just 15. Forgive me.” Yes, that’s what a teenager was compelled to say with folded hands after she expressed what she thinks about him, using expletives at the recent NEET-linked student protests at Jantar Mantar.

“I apologise to the entire country. I am so ashamed. I can’t even look at myself. Please forgive me,” she said in a video.

It’s time PM Modi returned the favour to the young women of this country who have faced so much unchecked violence since he came to power—some of it in the days after the PM and his coterie were busy getting the country to light diyas to celebrate his birthday.

Please don’t make me devote a paragraph to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data again.

The assault by a group of men in Bihar’s Jamui on a 15-year-old student returning from a coaching class occurred just two days after the PM’s birthday. As is always the case in New India, the crime was recorded and distributed for enjoyment. 

Two days after this, a 17-year-old was gang raped in a Delhi park by a group posing as policemen—just 2 km from her elite college. It was her birthday too, sir. But we know PM Modi will not engage with the student protestors of Lady Shri Ram College who are correctly pointing out that women’s safety isn’t just our responsibility.

The Convenient Feminist

Who remembers the PM's feminist posturing from the ramparts of the Red Fort on his first Independence Day speech in 2014, grandly tossing the sweeping tail of his saffron turban that overshadowed its green border? He framed rape as an issue of national shame, and even urged Indians to adopt new parenting standards.

“If every parent decides to impose as many restrictions on the sons as have been imposed on our daughters, try to do this with your sons, try to ask such questions of them,” he said.

Cue clapping.

But nobody reined in their raja betas or even hinted to their sons that they should stop raping and attacking other people’s daughters who they may encounter in public spaces. Money was collected in a scheme named after us, most of it was spent on advertising directed at ‘saving’ Indian betis—and nothing changed.

Surely our widely travelled PM knows that the issue of violence against women cannot be solved by commissioning some generic advertising with alliterative slogans?

PM Modi remembered us again in his annual address in 2022, after COVID-19—a time when crimes against women and girls skyrocketed as we were locked down with our abusers. This time he asked people to take a “pledge” to stop “insulting” women, his language intentionally understating the every day violence we face. “The more opportunities we give to our daughters, the more they will take India forward,” he said.

Forget thriving or succeeding, we fight to survive in this country. PM Modi should explain why he doesn’t think safeguarding half this country’s population is an issue worthy of his time and effort.

Leading by Example 

Someone remind him he’s a PM, not a priest. It’s okay to preach about pledges and parenting styles and repackage words like ‘sindoor’ in pithy quotes and as titles of military operations, but the real work begins after a politician steps down from the pulpit.

Yet, PM Modi follows the worst misogynists on X. You won’t find him standing up for women in the case of Brij Bhushan vs Indian women or in the case of Himanshi Narwal, whose naval officer husband was killed in the Pahalgam attack. He doesn’t react to the misogynistic language used by elected office-bearers in his party, maybe because his own anti-woman language is well-documented.

Muslims should bring their sisters and daughters to garba, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rameshwar Sharma said earlier this week. “Our boys are also ready.”

We know PM Modi won’t say anything about this rape threat. And yes, let’s not forget he endorsed The Kerala Story, a wild conspiracy movie that portrays women as the property of men and having no agency or intelligence of their own. Two of his Hindi belt chief ministers even made the movie tax-free in their states.

Meanwhile, the country ruled by this strongman has become even more violent and patriarchal as Hindutva foot soldiers online (and offline) stalk, disrespect, and abuse women, especially from marginalised and minority communities. They coordinate online attacks against women in public office and those who criticise the government.

Vocal Muslim women were ‘sold’ in faux online auctions on apps with names like Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals.

“This type of continuous digital violence numbs public conscience,” writes Saadia Azim in Forwarded As Received: How Misinformation Turns Viral, Violent and True. “It normalises trauma and repackages systematic harassment as harmless humour.”

Well, we’ve had enough of ‘harmless’ humour.

The PM will have to tell us how he plans to tackle VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN and RAPE CULTURE. I know you’re NOT comfortable with apologies, sir, but it’s never too late to learn a new skill.

So, switch on that video. Show us some genuine remorse. Own up to your missteps. Don’t be reluctant or grudging. Avoid the passive voice. Don’t say “I’m sorry if…” And tell us what you are going to do to fix the problem.

Or else we will have to fix it ourself. As you famously tweeted in 2013 after the gang rape of Jyoti Singh: “When you go to vote—think—they made my Delhi a rape capital.”

Keep fighting girls. One day he will have to hear us.

Predictably, the Delhi government has restricted access to public parks after sunset. Somebody remind the PM to tell his team that parks don’t rape women. Neither do buses. Or coaching centres.

(The author is the founder of India Love Project and on the editorial board of Article 14. This is an opinion piece. All views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)