Attack, as the adage goes, is the best form of defence. In the case of a cornered Bharatiya Janata Party, the chosen strategy has to be whataboutery. The Manipur tragedy, including the depravities inflicted upon women, has revealed the BJP’s propensity for pushing back against legitimate questions and criticism with mischievous counterarguments. As India rages over the visuals of two Kuki women being disrobed, paraded and sexually assaulted — other horrors are tumbling out of the closet too — the Narendra Modi regime seems to be intent on politicising the issue to conceal its own ineptitude. In his condemnation of the crime against the two victims, the prime minister, who chose to break his silence months after the flames were lit in Manipur, alluded to atrocities against women in states — Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan were mentioned specifically — ruled by the Opposition. That seemed to be the cue from the top. Since then, BJP functionaries have been screeching along these lines, highlighting instances of violence against women — real or imagined — in other states, including Bengal. India’s record of preventing crime against women is dismal: data from the National Crime Records Bureau would testify to this fact. The BJP’s own performance is bleak too. A party that tom-toms Mr Modi’s pledge to educate and save girls thinks nothing of shielding a sports official, the outgoing chief of the wrestling body, from serious allegations made by women wrestlers; those accused of violating Bilkis Bano have been feted; several BJP leaders had come out in support against the suspects involved in the chilling Kathua rape and murder of a minor. Governments cutting across political lines have failed to make the nation safe for women. But to compare — defend? — the situation in Manipur — the Supreme Court described the gruesome visuals as signs of constitutional failure — with instances of individual crimes in specific states speaks of not just moral bankruptcy but also unwarranted cynicism. The compulsions of electoral politics underpin the BJP’s whataboutery.

The price of this evasion of accountability has been terrible for Manipur and India. The violence continues in Manipur. Neighbouring states are no longer immune either: Meiteis are fleeing Mizoram fearing retribution. Ethnic and regional fault lines are likely to endure with disastrous consequences for the strategic and economic potential of Mr Modi’s Act East policy. The international scrutiny is unlikely to abate either. Whataboutery may save the BJP’s skin for a while. But deflection can have bitter electoral consequences for the party in the long term.