Group to make noise by getting ‘painted’

Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee, a Congress MP, who shocked many by calling female protestors in Delhi as “painted and dented” on Thursday, has spurred a women’s group into action.

Blank Noise, a community project that fights oppression of women, is inviting women from across the country to come for a protest wearing bright red lipstick and take a pledge to help keep cities safe for women. The protest will be held in Cubbon Park, Bangalore, on Jan 1, 2013.
The campaign titled ‘painted, dented and pledging’ asks men and women to come forth and take personal pledges. “The idea of taking a pledge originated right after the Delhi rape incident. We want public to continue to stay outraged instead of forgetting it in a few weeks,” said Jasmeen Patheja, part of Blank Noise.

Patheja said that through a network of volunteers, the group was trying to make the event national by getting them to organise similar pledges in various cities across the country. “The pledges are a public promise that need to be made and a statement to our politicians to not make sexist remarks. We are saying – let’s get painted and let’s get the message out there. Although we are not sure what dented even means,” she adds.

Jan 1, Patheja said, was the best time for a new beginning. “We don’t know how many people will come but we should make sure that our politicians should learn that they are public servants and should not make statements like what Abhijeet Mukerjee made,” she said.

Some of the pledges that people have made online at the Blank Noise blog range from promising to go out late night to pledging to be more visible.

“It’s not just about creating laws to protect women. People should also get involved and find ways to contribute in making their cities safe,” she said.