As women concerned with combating violence against South Asian, Black and Minority Ethnic women and girls, we are writing to express our deep disquiet about your government’s approach to gender violence. When you were elected to lead India with a massive mandate from the people many had hoped that you would use it to try and improve women’s lives. Instead, your actions (and inaction) suggest that your government is not only indifferent to the increasing violence against women and rigid patriarchal control of their lives but often endorses and reinforces it. Recently, you the Prime Minister of India, along with top ministers of your cabinet, have reported to an unconstitutional authority, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who have called you to account for your actions. We find this shocking, because the RSS is a paramilitary organisation modelled on the Italian Fascist and German Nazi parties and known also for its violent misogyny. And while we know that you yourself have been a life-long member of the RSS, we think that in a democratic country like India, it is crucially important that the government is answerable only to parliament and democratic procedures.
