Moral ? Immoral ?
While media and consortium of pub-going, loose and forward women are belting Sri Rama Sene left, right and centre, I try to present a slightly different picture. Honestly I feel the issue is blown out of proportion by the media. There was absolutely no necessity to make it a national issue. Even Sri Ram Sene wouldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams that they would become household names overnight! Thanks to Indian media where any event is presented as breaking news, and when there is breaking news I don’t need to tell how it is reported. I have written about the disgusting media culture before.
Lets forget media for the time being and shift the focus back on Sri Rama Sene. Instantly it reminds me of the mangalore pub attacks. And remark of Pramod Mutalik as custodian of Indian culture. Though the whole episode is not taken down well by the media, there is a brighter side to it. And now Mutaliks eye is on Valentine’s Day celebration. Its no wonder that every year on pretext of valentine’s day, several young women get cheated. More often the ones who are regular to pubs, bars, discos etc the so called places of entertainment for the forward women. By imposing constraints on the women entering pubs, Sri Rama Sene is/has tried to save future of several women, saved several women from falling into trap by cheap men who look at them as mere entertainment commodities. When your parents object you to visit some place keeping your safety in mind, do you protest against it saying it violates your fundamental rights ? Do you send them pink chaddis ? Duh!
Nowadays TOI is carrying an article everyday opposing the moral police. They are hell bent on lifting the curbs on nightlife. There were days when TOI initiated campaigns like Lead India, Teach India etc. I felt really proud and had hoped there was someone who can bring change in the society. But now after more than a year of Lead India Campaign what has changed? Where is the Lead India winner R.K. Mishra ? Recently I read in one corner of TOI that he will be starting a project for community development and will get 30 lakhs aid from TOI. But is 30 lakhs enough ? That too after he has worked on the project preparation for a year. And why there is no noice about Teach India ? Did TOI do all these just for its publicity ?
At the end of it, I see no point in cribbing about moral police. We have bigger problems on our hands. There are rumours of terrorist plots everyday. The country is suffering due to economic slowdown. Lets stop fighting among ourselves. Lets focus on solving the real problems!
P.S. : I am not a member of Sri Rama Sene or associated to it in anyway. This was an attempt to provide a different perspective of the incident, a totally different one than the one which we read in newspaper everyday. Ofcourse i do condemn the attack on girls.
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Hi radhesh,
Its a good try. I totally agree with you that the matter was blownout of proportion By media. Most of the small issues are turned into national issue only beacuse of Media.I do appreciate the change which Sri Ram sena is trying bring in our society but I don’t agree with the method they are following. I don’t think you can forcibly change some one or somethings unless you are such a big force… May be Rama sena could have tried better ways of doing it!!!
I agree. but if the media had not blown it outta proportion. Mutalik would have had his WAY.
Dat way we cant blame the media totally
Regarding your point
“Sri Rama Sene is/has tried to save future of several women, saved several women from falling into trap by cheap men who look at them as mere entertainment commodities. When your parents object you to visit some place keeping your safety in mind, do you protest against it saying it violates your fundamental rights ? Do you send them pink chaddis ? Duh!”
See, the major difference here is the intention. The reason parents curb the rights of their kids is genuine concern. But what about the Sena? It is evident that their aim is mere publicity, which they have got in plenty, as you have already pointed out. Do you think parents would beat up their kids for merely talking to a person from the opposite sex? or from another religion? So what justification does the Sena have for abusing a girl (an MLA’s daughter) for merely talking to a friend’s brother? Or for beating a brother and a sister for walking together? If their concern for women is genuine why don’t they see the other abuses happening in our country? Statistics show that every 29 minutes, a woman is raped in India. Why would they not raise their voices against such abuses, the larger problems?? Now, please don’t give the age old reason that provocation is the root cause. Consider the abuses of 3 year old girls or 65 year old women – what provocation do they give?
It is in the name of Hinduism that these fundamentalists are crowning themselves as moral police. But according to my understanding of Hinduism, women are considered as goddesses with utmost respect. How come violence against women be it for any cause? The same people who abused these women were themselves donning trousers and shirts, now where have we adapted them from? This, I believe is hypocrisy at its heights.
And above all, it all boils down to an individual’s freedom. Every one of us has the right to oppose and question. But resorting to violence is a larger crime in itself. And unless media brings these issues to light, these hooligans will run amok endlessly.
The Sena seems to be digging out issues that will ignite division of our society in the long run. Already we, Indians, are a suffering lot. Communalism and fundamentalism have clamped us in no little measure. Do we need to add on to that fire? I doubt.
I think Rama Sena needed a publicity and thts what media is giving it…. Both(Rama Sena and Media) are benefiting in this… The Pink Chaddi is selling like hot cake…. Don’t deny that u don’t read tht Pink Chaddi column….
Regarding Teaching Moral to anyone…. No one can do tht better than parents…. n if parents have no objection in their daughters going to Pub or Bar or Disco or Celebrating Valentine’s day… who are these Rama Sena to take any action abt tht.
When men can piss in public with the least shame… which force decent ladies to bend their heads and goahead with their work… what culture are we talking abt???
Those ladies who get cheated in the Bar/Pub or in the name of valentine’s day… i call its their fate… God has gifted us with the brain power to decide what is good for us and what is not… if some one fails to use tht power to take decissions its their fate…. n no one can save them…
if not on valentines day… may be some other day… if not at pub/bar…. may be in the malls or cinema houses….will these Rama sena protest against going to malls and movies as well????
First of all this Rama sena are Spoiling Our God’s name by using tht for their Cheep and nonsense work.
Secondly Hindu culture doesn’t need anyone like Rama sena to protect it….
n Most Importantly any culture is not just related to women…its equally related to men…. those men who doesn’t follow Hindu culture correctly(Following the scripts) don’t have any rights to tell women to follow it.
If these people are so much aware(!?) and concerned about the Indian women and want to prevent the women from going into Pubs, why not they show concern and opposition about the very existence of such places itself!! Are men very much permitted to enter these pubs and is it what Indian tradition and culture asking our men to do?
@Ashish, @Nik,
I agree that beating up girls was the wrong thing. Now they are paying dearly for that mistake.
@Jiya, NB,
Its still not clear whether Sena members attacked the MLA’s daughter.
Check -
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090082875&ch=2/8/2009%203:26:00%20PM
And other questions of yours and NB, someone from Sri Rama Sene has to answer.
P.S. – I am not here justifying the actions of Sri Rama Sene.
Every time i see the video on a news channel i get perplexed, it looks as if media were given prior invitation before the incident could have happened. If they were able to capture the incident live that means they already knew something bizzare is going to happen and instead informing the local police and avoiding the situation they waiting ith there camera’s on recording it as if it was some television show. I think its high time media representatives are questioned about their actions.
And about the moral police, whether his views about women entering pubs is right or not, i have no comments about that is truly his own opinion but it is for sure that he doesn’t have any rights to take laws into his hands and thrash anyone like the way they’ve done it. I don’t understand how difficult it is prove them guilty and punish him for the offence ?
@Sam,
Very valid point!
@Madhan,
Media waits for something wrong to happen. And then makes it sensational! And yes, whoever commits sin should be punished. All those who were involved in thrashing were arrested and put behind bars. But they were out next day.