Moral policing on Valentine’s Day

Well, the self proclaimed moral police have already warned youngsters planning to celebrate the day to abstain from it. According to them it is Christian. How about Xmas then? Many of the Hindus celebrate Xmas. Now Karnataka’s BJP government has made it clear that they are not for the safety of the people but for ensuring they are “morally correct”.

We know what to expect on Valentine’s Day this year. The moral police are going to beat up young couples. Don’t be surprised if you hear that girls were molested or that people were stripped and paraded. Our country is moving towards that shame. Now its citizens have to celebrate in fear of the so called politicians. Let the CM make the state a place where people can live with out fear. However, it is far from the present situation, where the fence itself eats the crops (a phrase borrowed from Malayalam).

Is there a solution to this? The only way is to nip the tendency in the bud. Once these people know that they will be punished, they will not opt for this. Considering the pent up anger of the young population, I am sure these moral police will be at the receiving end this time.

Is this the freedom our ancestors fought for? I remember the song below, which we sang in school. Perhaps Tagore knew where “free” India was headed.

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
....................................................................................................
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by Thee to ever-widening thought and action -

Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”

Pub culture will not be allowed in Bangalore, says CM

Karnataka chief minister (CM) says his government will not allow pub culture in Bangalore. He says it is against Indian culture. Drink at home, says CM. So does the Rajasthan CM. This is the greatest joke of the century. When did these people become the guardians of morality in India? So what is the chief minister’s role? The CM has to uphold the culture of India, which seems to be his main duty. They don’t even seem to know what culture is. Culture is giving respect to others. Does the so called Indian culture allow violence against women? He says it's ok to drink at home. Is he saying that parents and children drinking at home is Indian culture?

The government’s next move will be to say that women should not work as they had not done so before. That’s also westernization. They would soon stop couples in motorbikes to prevent women from traveling with “unrelated” men. This might also be against the so called Indian culture. They will be pushed from their bikes and beaten. You might soon get to see these on television. I am sure they would also love to bring a dress code like the Taliban. Now you know where we are headed. The Indian Taliban will say the rhetoric, “they are like our sisters, we only want to protect them.”

I remember an incident, where the Karnataka police showed their sense of duty. I was in the park with my husband and son, who was a toddler then. There was another couple in a bench on the opposite side. The police came and asked them to get into the police jeep. They pleaded with the police saying they were only talking. But the police did not budge. It was barely 6 pm. We were spared because the child was proof of our marriage!

Is this part of a policeman’s duty? There is so much for them to do, rather they do not do. Bangalore would be a much better place if they concentrated on their duty instead of looking at something absolutely needless. May be their job is not as interesting as chasing women.

But then what choice do we have? Well, keep yourself glued to the telly as the drama unfolds. We can only hope it wont be us!

Moral policing in Mangalore pub

It was a disturbing sight—girls frantically running out of the pub chased by the self proclaimed moral police. They were held by their hair and beaten. The videos were being shown repeatedly.

I was thinking about the kind of men who would treat a woman like that. A normal person cannot do that, even in the case of an inflated sense of morality. They were perhaps eying girls who wear modern dresses and behave in a way they cannot digest. They would have felt that these girls were out of their “reach”. The attack was a way of being superior to them. It gave them a false sense of superiority.

Talking about morality, there exist men who would visit whorehouses at night and become moral police during the day. Look at the men arrested. They look like seasoned criminals, who wouldn’t lose an opportunity to molest a woman.

Indian constitution does not have any clauses differentiating moral codes for men and women. According to our moral police, men can go to pub, wear shots, and behave in any way they want. This is also westernization. Why are they not policing them?

And what exactly is morality and when did morality surface? The current ideal of Bhartiya naari (Indian woman) is perhaps a recent one. A couple of generations back, women belonging to lower castes in my home state were not allowed to cover their upper body. Even if they covered they were expected to remove them when an upper caste man came across.

What happened to the people who molested a newly wed on New Year’s eve in Delhi? Perhaps it is forgotten. The culprits should ideally receive punishment, which will deter anyone planning to follow their footsteps. The incident should not be politicized. Instead each of the accused should be tried and punished. Relating them to any party simply dilutes the crime. The act should be seen as molestation. Nothing less nothing more. Remember, such incidents dont always happen to others.