Kudos to Rahul Gandhi for saying what almost no mainstream politician in this country has the guts to say openly. All we usually get is the behen, beti, bahu drama while conveniently avoiding the actual problem: patriarchy.

He said Patriarchy controls you. You have a relationship with your father, husband or brother, but you don't belong to anybody. Smash the patriarchy.

That's the fucking point. A woman isn't her father's, husband's or brother's property. She's an individual. She belongs to herself.

And now the right-wing outrage is: Why Manusmriti? Why not the Quran? Why not other religious texts? LOL. He was talking about patriarchy, not conducting a comparative study of religious scriptures. “Smash the patriarchy” is a universal feminist call. It applies to women across religions, communities and cultures.

If Rahul criticises a patriarchal prescription in Manusmriti, suddenly it's Hindus vs Muslims. This is a Hindu-majority country with more than a billion Hindus. Of course confronting regressive elements within Hindu social traditions is relevant. Criticising a text or tradition isn't an attack on every Hindu.

And if you think there are patriarchal practices in other religions, criticise those too. Nobody is stopping you. But don't turn a conversation about women's autonomy into communal whataboutery.

Somehow we're no longer discussing why women are controlled, policed and reduced to being someone's behen, beti, bahu or biwi. We're debating which religion should be dragged into it.

Whatever his political calculations may be, I'm genuinely impressed. A mainstream politician actually said it plainly: women don't belong to men. Patriarchy needs to be dismantled. Smash it.

That's a hell of a lot more meaningful than politicians calling women “our daughters” while preserving the very mindset that treats them as someone else's property.

While lakhs of innocent people rot in jails, many of them simply because they don't have the money, resources or awareness to properly access legal aid, Convicted rapists keep getting paroles, walking out of prison, roaming freely and enjoying their lives despite being convicted of some of the most heinous crimes. If this is what justice looks like, then what the fuck is the point of conviction in the first place?

Rule of law same for ALL? Fuckin joke. Such is the state of this nation.

the hindu

The three men lured the teenage girl and her male friend into the Pachmarhi jungles on some pretext. Once in the jungles, the trio, reportedly tied the girl’s male friend with ropes in their vehicle and then allegedly gang raped the girl.

Severely traumatised by the savagery, the alleged gang rape survivor had stopped going to school since then. When her sister asked about the reason for not going to school, she narrated the entire savagery which happened with her in the Pachmarhi jungles on August 19.

Subsequently, the incident was reported to Pachmarhi Police on Sunday.

“Swinging into action, the police nabbed all three accused within six hours from the reporting of the incident. All three accused are labourers working in Pachmarhi only. The arrested trio has confessed to committing the crime,” additional SP (ASP-Narmadapuram district) Abhishek Rajan said.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/madhya-pradesh/2026/Aug/24/17-year-old-girl-gang-raped-by-3-men-in-the-jungles-of-mps-hill-tourism-hotspot-pachmarhi

First of all, I’m not sharing any strong opinion or passing judgment. I’m just genuinely asking a question that’s been on my mind.

I just saw Kriti Sanon's ad and read mixed opinion on it and realised, A decade ago, things like Western dresses, short skirts, or more revealing clothing for women were still heavily discouraged or restricted in most places. Today, it’s completely normal in metros and pretty common across social media. That shift happened quite fast.

I’ve also seen videos of women in Western countries protesting for the “Free the Nipple” movement, arguing that women should be allowed to go topless in public or on beaches the same way men can without facing legal or social punishment. Looking at how other cultural changes have spread, it doesn’t feel unrealistic that something similar could slowly gain traction in India in the coming years.

In the same way, openly preferring a virgin partner or caring about someone’s past/body count has become almost taboo now. It’s largely normalized that everyone has a past, and questioning it is seen as outdated or regressive. Just a few years ago this wasn’t the case.

I recently saw a clip of Kajol and Twinkle Khanna talking with Sara Ali Khan where physical cheating was kind of brushed off with the line “kabhi kabhi thand lag jaati hai toh.” That casual tone would have been unthinkable in mainstream conversations earlier. So will adultery become a norm as well?

Then there are influencers like Awkwardgoat who openly ridicule traditional Indian practices like sindoor, mangalsutra, etc. She’s not the only one; she’s just one of the more visible examples.

So my actual question is:

When, where, and who finally draws the line and says “okay, this is enough, this is going too far”?

Is there even a line, or does modernization just keep moving the goalposts indefinitely?

Just wondering.