It is said that social institutions are dynamic in nature. They are conditioned by various internal and external forces. No country is immune to these changes. Religion and social customs are especially subject to change and rightly so, but if the changes are deliberately resisted by the state then it risks causing societal upheavals with catastrophic consequences for institutions and people alike. This appears exactly to be the case with Iran. The death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the Iranian regimes morality police for loosely wearing a hijab and her subsequent death causing by horrible injuries as a result of being beaten by the police has sparked a massive anti-hijab movement in Iran.
The movement has become intermeshed with other issues like unemployment, corruption and strict religious laws in the country.
Brutality unbounded
Whenever a regime which has been in power due to the sheer exercise of force and lacks popular legitimacy faces credibility test and people began questioning it the regime responds with disproportionate use of force. The Iranian government is doing exactly the same. Security forces in Iran have arrested scores of protestors including college students, doctors, academics, film personalities, activists. If this wasnt enough they have open fired on unarmed crowds; Since September when the first protests broke out, hundreds of people have been killed in the crackdown.
The regimes security forces have not even spared children who are also on the list of individuals who have died. Further people who have incarcerated have been done so on the basis of frivolous charges such as conspiracy to overthrow the Iranian government, collaborating with Irans enemies and even committing blasphemy.
Regime of contradictions
The crackdown and the ensuing brutality is not really new, since its inception in 1979 following the Islamic revolution in Iran, the government headed by the Supreme leaders Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, followed by Ali Khameinei have stayed in power through a mechanism of exercising coercion on the population in the name of strict implementation of Islam. The regime has failed to take notice of the fact that in this post industrial age where the world has to grapple with the inevitable phenomenon of modernism and globalisation no country can remain insular; a country being run by a religious establishment with a lack of technocratic specialisation is pushing the country to the labyrinth.
The regime fails to comprehend that the youth of Iran are global in their thinking, aspirations and objectives. They favour more liberty and not constraints and that too sanctioned by the establishment. Religion is absolutely essential to lead a good quality life, but if religion gets into the way of ones basic liberties and rights in this post modern era and if the principles are sought to be enforced by an iron-fist manifesting itself in the form of state power, it is bound to cause a backlash. The Iranian government has failed to understand this basic idea.
It can no longer rule by sheer domination and use of state coercion, it needs to assuage the concerns of young Iranians in particular and the global community in general.
Indias approach
India, the largest democracy in the world enjoys excellent bilateral ties with Iran; India has followed a time tested policy on not commenting on the internal issues of member states. However as a democracy India has a moral duty, this duty is stand with the people of Iran.
The realists and pragmatists will argue that there is no need for New Delhi to wade needlessly into an issue that is currently an internal matter of Iran, but it is imperative that India speaks out. The hijab debate has also been raging in India with Indias highest court of law has intervened on this issue and has made it clear that wearing hijab is a matter of individual agency.
As the worlds largest democracy, India must talk with the Iranian government. New Delhi must immediately call on Iran to halt its security crackdown and use dialogue and conciliation to resolve this issue. India must persuade Iran that the use of force must be extremely restrained and that Iran must adhere to the rights and conditions enshrined in the UN charter and international law. India cannot remain a silent spectator as the Iranian people continue to lose their lives while protesting against repressive laws.
Views are personal.