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When Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thundered in the state Assembly recently and said, “In my lifetime, I will not let a single child marriage happen,” there should have been just one kind of reaction – of relief, resilience and cheer. This should not have been his fight alone. But on second thoughts, if everyone had been this cautious about children and their issues, the country would not be home to one-third of the child brides even today.
But thank god for politicians like Himanta Sarma.
In a political landscape where issues fade as quickly as Delhi rains, Sarma’s unwavering commitment to combating child marriage stands out. It is heartening to see that Assam which presently exhibits a rather sorry state of affairs in terms of child marriage has taken up the fight head on. As per the National Family Health Survey V, women married before 18 years are 31.8 percent, as against the national average of 23.3 percent. But these figures are from the time when Assam Chief Minister hadn’t decided on the immense and rather unprecedented crackdown on child marriage in the state.
Never before were such a large number of people arrested, or child marriages stopped in any part of the country. This one decision of the government in the state of Assam has singularly catapulted the visibility of the child marriage issue and there has been an unprecedented awareness pan-India about child marriage not being just a social evil but a crime. Assam government has in one swipe changed the way this crime was looked, at or overlooked; and put forth a strategic plan to curb it.
It is, however, a different story that this crackdown drew immense criticism from many around him. They clearly missed the point that Assam CM was hitting many issues such as child trafficking, child abuse and rape with this one stroke and was well within the ambit of the country’s legal framework.
And now, as he thunders on the floor of the state Assembly and looks into the Opposition’s eyes and declares that he would not let any child marriage happen in the state in his lifetime, the sincerity of his statement feels like a sharpened knife slicing the layers of this social crime. When he makes an appeal and asks all political parties to join him as he fights this crime, there may not be a whimper from the other side but the masses definitely feel an assurance about his well-placed intentions.
It is ironic that despite the many feats that the new India has unfurled in the last few years, we still cannot claim that all our children are safe. From child trafficking to child abuse to child marriage, the number of children being subjected to such crimes remains embarrassingly and alarmingly high. While child abuse is more often than not in the secure circle of trust, child labour is frequently in families where parents feel sending their children for work is their way out of poverty. And then there is this social evil called child marriage, where little girls as young as 8 are being married to men triple their age. These little girls, who should have been nestled in the love and care of their families are ceremoniously married off to be raped and abused every day and night for the rest of their lives.
Ironically, while child trafficking and child sexual abuse are openly spoken against, child marriage remains a deep-rooted part of our social fabric. There are laws that prohibit child marriage, and then there are people who clandestinely arrange these marriages because a child getting married, even in this day and age, is a norm and not an exception in a large part of the country.
The latest data confirms that every minute at least three children are being married in our country.
These figures don’t add up with the India we want to project and live in. These figures are the exact opposite of what New India should be about.
So, cutting across party lines and loyalties as well as aversion to different ‘isms’, it is time we Indians cheer for Himanta Biswa Sarma and stand by what he stands for – Safety and the future of our children. No religion or doctrine can justify the marriage and rape of a 10-year-old and anyone opposing his stand needs to be questioned about their understanding of religion, righteousness and humanity. Some issues transcend the division of mine and yours, us and them; rape of a child is one such issue. So who are we fighting? And honestly, who are these people on the other side of the fence? If we cannot unanimously stand on this one topic, we seriously need to start our countdown as a nation and a society. It is time all the political parties make Child Marriage Free India part of their election agenda. And if they can rise beyond their conflicts and interests, whoever wins, rest assured, the children of this country will not fail.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint