Some people believe that invoking God and tradition can sanctify a vile act. That seems true of the Sri Ram Sene thugs who raided a Mangalore pub on January 24, rounded up, groped and beat up the women present. The reason: “because of the attitude of the young women” and for “consuming alcohol, dressing indecently, and mixing with youths of other faiths”. In short, it was done “in the name of God”. Almost as an echo comes a statement from Krishna Palemar, minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, that “obscene” dances will not be allowed in the district. Such a pronouncement from a government minister implies a worrying degree of support for vigilante hooliganism. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has “categorically” distanced itself from this incident, but this is the same party whose chief minister B S Yeddyurappa only four months ago excused the attacks on churches in the state on the grounds that conversions were the cause. This time he has said, “It is unfortunate”, and nothing more. But the signs are ominous. Three days have passed, and the police still have not arrested the main perpetrators. As for the Sri Rama Sene, it has admitted its responsibility, and its founder Pramod Mutalik is unrepentant, dismissing the public outcry as unnecessary hype. That will be their attitude as long as the Krishna Palemars provide tacit support for their agenda, which is nothing more than a creeping Talibanisation of society, where everything that does not fit a selfserving “tradition” is suspect.
Such incidents in an election year are fodder for political parties and some have grabbed the bait gladly. Women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury has condemned the attack and so has the National Commission for Women. Chowdhury has gone a step further, saying that if needed she would personally intervene in the case. Unfortunately, the assurance rings a bit hollow, because activists report that the rate of convictions for crimes against women is near zero. It is not just crimes against women, though. It was the Sri Ram Sene that attacked an M F Hussain exhibition in Delhi last August. It has also been mentioned by Lt Col Purohit, a prime suspect in the Malegaon blasts, in a transcript as doing a “good job”. True, judicial custody for the arrested could be extended. Remember the case where 14 youths were granted bail after two NRIs were molested on Juhu beach while celebrating New Year in 2008?
The people in the Amnesia bar were doing nothing illegal. It was the intruders who broke the law and they must be made to pay for it. We cannot allow morality to be used as a cover for barbarism.
Published version of this post can be viewed at (http://epaper.newindpress.com/NE/NE/2009/01/28/ArticleHtmls/28_01_2009_010_001.shtml?Mode=1 or http://epaper.newindpress.com/NE/NE/2009/01/28/index.shtml)
Thankyou for sharing the link.
ReplyDeleteVery well expressed.I share your concern on this issue.We donot need a moral police telling us how to lead our lives.The Sena people should divert their energy to tackle existing attrocities in the society and not add on.
How come all your posts get published in TNIE?
ReplyDelete1. Coming to the post, which was done “in the name of God,” which Hindu God are they talking about? Almost all the Hindu Gods are drunk on Soma, which has alcohol, cannabis and blue lotus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma ), especially the chief of Gods Indra. They certainly can't be followers of the perpetually drunk God Shiva too. They would also be distancing a whole lot of the so called "Hindu" local deities for whom liquor is an offering and a 'prasad.' Point is, liquor in various forms is part of the Hindu religion and culture. So which Hinduism are these people guarding? Unless "Hindus" take staunch stands against the glorification of liquor as part of their belief system, they can't have a reasonable claim for alcohol "corrupting Indian culture."
I won't hold my breath for that though.
2. “Because of the attitude of the young women”: among the most promiscuous (religious) observances in India are Holi and Navratri (worship of the female goddess). Ask anyone who has been in Narendra Modi's Hindu Gujarat about the latter.
I respect the freedom of the individual to dress as required, drink and indulge as they might want to.
But that being said, everything is permissible — but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible — but not everything is edifying. These "beneficial" and "edifying" standards are not subjective and varying based on an individual's choice. There are objective standards - and contrary to what I've been taught all through my media classes, truth is not relative, but absolute.
While the act of the misguided zealots in the name of faith is in itself shameful, what is more alarming is the response from the government.
ReplyDeleteSurely the state government must castigate the act and bring the perpetrators of the crime to book, or else let it make it's stand clear. Does it condone this crime?
I totally agree to ur point of view that they should not use religion as a subject during elections. These bloody ram sena idiots would have thrown their sister also had she been in there? They are talking about following Indian culture like Bribes,vote bank politics, murder, rapes that happen outside pubs and many more like yedyurappa(Killing his own wife). These street dogs doesn't really understand what India is. This religious war will never stop unless we kill all these street dogs.
ReplyDeleteHow dare u chief minister of Karnataka can be a puppet? And can u dare take any action against the Ram Sena? If that is the case then you yourself know that u wont be in the seat for long time. That is the reason u said that banning that stupid organization is not going to solve the issue. Similarly banning pubs is not the solution here. Think like and Indian and not like a political scrap.