Three years ago, I visited Charranagar with a senior colleague for a felicitation programme. My colleague is very well aware of the issues of the De-notified tribes and is a chamipon of their cause. The evening function turned into night, as the crowds cheered the hero of the day- a young singer who had been selected for the final round of Sa Re Ga Ma (a prestigious singing competition at the national level). A rare achievement in this settelment. But what is even more rare is the capability of this person to compete with the rest of the participants, who have been trained under masteros since their childhood. This young singer is self taught with no mentor. As the voice of the young man resonated in the air, I strayed across to look around the ‘notorious’ settlement. My colleague sitting on the dias noticed my wanderings. She quietly sent two men for my ‘security’. (a single girl wandering alone in a ‘criminal’ society).It amazed me to notice how deeply embeded our fears are, that they can defy all rational reasonings. Equipped with all knowldege regarding the tortures inflicted on this DNTs my colleague still feared for my safety. Even knowledge could not fight the fears instilled in us since childhood of the ‘others’. Our fears have overcome our rationality.
Can anyone be a ‘born crimnial’? Havent we lost our rights to be called rational beings when faced against such myths? And above all fear of whom? Who are these ‘others’? History has made these ‘others’, but then history has certainly not been democratic in its labeling. Some Charras have been involved in thefts. Some of the incidents have been gruesome also. But did you punish the whole white world because their ancestors made the rest of the world a slave colony? Does one brand every bearded man a terrorist because some bearded men are terrorists? What kind of rationality promotes the logic of attributing the character of the part to the whole?This fear is reflected in our eyes and in our words.
And if media is truly as influential as experts say, then it is the fear reflected through the word that reflects in our eyes. The written word says that the ‘others’ are habitual offenders under law and so the eyes say that they have potential of ‘offending’ us. The written word says that the theft that took place a month back was committed by three Charras. It does not say that the theft was committed by two Indian men or by two unemployed youth, or two hungry youth or simply two men. The written word reiterates our fear into a belief which soon becomes a rational.Charras= Thieves
The ones who hold the power to torture also hold the power to uplift. The ones who hold the power to reiterate a myth also hold the power to shred a myth into pieces.
Hence the need to be heard- to be able to tell your story in your own words and not through the words of others. To determine what is said about you, where it is said and also how it is said, which in turn necessitates the ownership of the medium of communication. But medium of communication today are expensive both as equipments and as spaces to be broadcasted. Today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.
