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Tuesday, February 10, 2009 14:09 IST

As a man, I am appalled at the discriminatory nature of the "send Ram Sene a pink chaddi" campaign. Men do not wear pink chaddis, so how will they register their protest at the thuggish behaviour of these Taliban? No, wait, that was a joke. In fact, I am impressed at this wonderful idea of public humiliating these fundamentalists by resorting to fundaments.

The puns have been coming fast and thick every since the chaddi story hit the web and now, newspapers. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Pink_chaddis_for_Mutalik_on_V-Day/articleshow/4102890.cms Getting to the bottom of things, getting down and dirty, even stretching the whole thing too far. But behind that humour, there is a serious objective which must not be ignored. The protest is a way of young, urban women telling these Neardathals that they are not going to be cowed down by this kind of violent behaviour. And by resorting to this unusual protest, they wish to also send a message to politicians that India is changing and they better understand this change.

For long, the Indian politician has ignored the urban dweller in favour of the rural and the small town. The "westernised elite" that much maligned beast, is seen to be out of touch with Indian realities and in any case its vote, when it bothers to stand in voting queues, does not count. The rural Indian is the salt of the earth and it is he/she whose sensibilities must be pandered too. The assumption here is of coruse that rural Indians are simple-minded and unsophisticated.

Most politicians come from this backward mindset and therefore react in a backward way on socio-cultural issues. But they are missing the bus. More and more Indians are growing up in the cities and towns. They are not necessarily rootless; they are proud Indians but are also at ease with a fast globalising culture. At the very least, they value their freedoms, of which the most important is freedom of choice and thought. By siding with the Ram Sene types, Indian politicians have read the situation incorrectly. Pub or no pub, drinking or no drinking, no one in India will approve of beating up women. The BJP's verbal callisthenics and the mealy mouthedness of certain politicians like Ashok Gahlot who suddenly woke up to the assaults on Indian culture (female foeticide is fine) have shocked young Indians.

Some of them, especially women who see it as an attack on their empowerment, have got together to stand up for their freedoms. And instead of hate, they have come up with an even deadlier weapon--ridicule. It is not surprising that the campaign is taking off. The Sene should start preparing plans on what to do with all the chaddis they will be getting on Valentine's Day.

2 comments

What a juvenile piece of one-sided writing. Indian writers are worse than Indian politicans, jumping headlong with pre-determined responses without thinking.

Was the pub attack wrong? Absolutely! Was the idea wrong? No! People will react to fast-changing culture in various ways.

I hate to say this, but it is not the politicians but columnists like you who are out of touch with how Indians think. Politicians are (unfortunately) a shrewd lot who know exactly how to get votes, and whatever the media says is not going to change that. The sad truth is that most Indians will support the Sene. Even more shockingly you will find that most people DO support beating up women. People are quite rigid about these things and there is no point in fooling ourselves otherwise. Unfortunately, the 'marginalized' elite is just that — a small fringe of society. It makes things worse that these elites do not bother to exercise their franchise.