She went into illegal police custody in Mumbai walking on her feet. She came out 28 days later on a stretcher.

They used to make a circle around her and take turns to flog her with belts. They banged her head against a wall multiple times in a day. They took her into a hotel room and made her lie down on a wired bed. They electrocuted her till she  lost consciousness. They punctured her lungs and broke her spine.

She might never walk normally again. Never breathe normally again. 

Why did they do this? To extract statements that would implicate her in the Malegaon bomb blast.

Why would they want that?

To build a narrative of saffron terror.

Why did they choose her?

She wore saffron. Her makeup was a tilak on her forehead. She spoke unadulterated Hindi. There was a Rudraksha Mala around her neck.

It was so easy to make her look like a cow lyncher. 

Call it invincible spirit, call it supernatural grace, she did not break.

For her country, for her people. She did not break to protect others.

They broke her spine but they could not break her spirit.

But is she remembered as this spiritual warrior who allowed her body to be broken for her country? As this superwoman who never caved in?

No. She’s no shero. No paeans are written for her. No placards are raised in her name.

She is known as a Hindu terrorist. A gaumutra drinking Rudraksha wearing militant uneducated primitive cow lynching Sanghi chaddiwali bigot.

It does not matter that she’s now a parliamentarian who defeated a two time Chief Minister by a huge margin. She’s still vilified as a morally corrupt saffron terrorist.

That is the power of narrative.

A narrative created by the nexus of governance structures, media and political dispensation.

The ruling party at the centre, could do nothing, or chose to do nothing to correct this narrative.

They made not an iota of difference. It seemed an unshakeable bedrock, this narrative building nexus.

Till a journalist brought it out in the open today.

The name of the woman is Pragya Thakur.

The name of her torturer is the police commissioner of Mumbai Parambir Singh.

The name of the journalist is Arnab Goswami.

The truth is finally out.

One man just did what a ruling party could not.

Change the narrative.

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