Expected rows of smooching couples, surrounded by obliging TV cameras to light up your screen this lazy Sunday? Official crackdowns, real and anticipated, however, ensured that the much-touted Kiss Day in two cities ended up as a damp squib.
In Kochi, on Sunday afternoon, police detained the 50 protestors against moral policing, and only some got to lock lips on the way to police vans. In Mumbai, the 300-odd supporters at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), also did not kiss each other fearing authorities.
Kochi remained tense since 3 pm, as hundreds of activists opposing the Kiss Day protest thronged the venue, Marine Drive, in the hundreds. Adding to the woes of the city authorities, the mob brought traffic to a grinding halt.
The police made several lathicharges and used pepper spray to disperse the mob. Several bystanders, including mediapersons, suffered minor injuries in the lathicharge. Finally, normalcy was restored in Marine Drive by dusk.
In Mumbai, no one, not even the Shiv Sena, raised any protest. Some said this was because of the current political situation, and the current Sena president Uddhav Thakeray's soft stance. The Sena had opposed Valentine's Day celebrations a few years ago.
At IIT Bombay, students who assembled in solidarity with the Kochi demonstrators faced heavy in-campus security. Bystanders, including media persons, were asked to leave. Although protestors had been previously allowed to kiss their partners if they liked, they marched through the campus and no one kissed. Observers said this could be because of the fear of authorities.
"Most of us feared the ire of our professors which has the potential to affect our academic career." But Rahul Maganti, one of the protest organisers said, "We have never said that it would be a 'Kiss day'. We just wanted to show our solidarity with the Kochi guys, and oppose moral policing."
The protests in Kochi and Mumbai were carried out to oppose moral vigilantism, following an attack by Bharatiya Janata Party activists on a coffee shop in Kozhikode a few days ago.
Despite the foiled protests, protestors in Kochi claimed partial successes in their fight to 'reclaim public spaces' and the 'right to love'. "Today's attempt to protest through kissing has kicked up heated dialogues on moral policing,'' said Deepa, an associate professor at a Thiruvananthapuram college.
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