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Magazine
Populist stances
MEENA MENON AND RAHI GAIKWAD
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No party will condemn the acts of radicals like the Sene for fear of losing votes.
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’On one level it’s a morality issue, but on another you are taking away the decision making powers and space that women have fought for so many years…’ -- Sandhya Gokhale, Forum Against Oppression of Women
Photo: PTI
“The right wing Hindu organisations are indoctrinating young men in parochial thinking. They are taught to believe that women are sex objects. They pay lip service to women as a goddess, mother and wife but never think of women as individuals. She has no place in society by herself, she must always be attached to someone. Running a pub is a legal activity permitted by the law of the land. How can you say who can go in and who can't?" - Prahlad Kakkar
At the sprawling Firangipani pub in suburban Mumbai, a bouncer stands at the entrance. The events of Mangalore have not left a mark with the usual crowd of weekend revellers. “We don’t allow shady characters,” smiles Anil Crasto, the PR manager of the pub. There is private security too deployed. Like some other pubs in Mumbai, since a year, they have a “ladies night” twice a week on Monday and Wednesday which is very popular. Free alcohol is served for women between 6 p.m. to 9.45 p.m., says Crasto.
No stranger to policing
He feels that the attack on the Mangalore pub was very sad. It is, after all, each one’s personal choice where to go and what to do. Despite its cosmopolitan hue, Mumbai is no stranger to moral policing. In 2005, the closure of bars which had dancing girls evoked widespread protest. Former Home Minister R R Patil led the moral police brigade to shut them down. An appeal is pending in the Supreme Court against the move which resulted in hundreds of women losing their livelihood. Valentine’s Day on February 14 is another excuse for the Right Wing moral police to indulge in vandalism of the worst kind.
For activists, the matter goes beyond one’s personal choice. Filmmaker and founder of Majlis, Madhushree Dutta feels that more dangerous than the attack on the women in the pub is the subsequent statement of the Karnataka Chief Minister. She said the Chief Minister too has problems with women going to pubs. He does not mind them drinking at home. There is tacit State support and it is not only Mr. Yedyurappa who is like this. All heads of State feel this is a populist stand to take. It is clearly an “anti women in public space” stand. They think by saying such things it will get them votes. Goondagiri is a law and order issue but such attacks have the support of mainstream politicians. No politician or party will condemn such things. “The popularity, rather the populist nature of the whole thing, is bothering me, more than the goondagiri, which of course is utterly condemnable,” she points out.
At Café Mondegar, which has an iconic status in Mumbai, there were outraged reactions to the Mangalore incident. Maithilee Gohel, 23, fashion designer, feels that anyone who respects women, would not think of doing that to them. “The women were not harming anyone. There are other issues political parties can solve.” A media professional who does not want to be named says that it is sad that such attacks take place in independent India. “I feel a handful politicians pick a subject in the name of culture, and hype it up to gain importance. When you use violence, what culture are we talking about? If you want to protest something, go about it in a dignified manner. You cannot use force and illegal means. The times are changing and women are going out. Respect them as adults. Women have the right to vote, but they don’t have the right to choose what they want to do. During elections, these are the very same people who would come to you for votes. They make a hue and cry about culture, but their own children will frequent pubs.” Sameer Arora, 38, says, “It smacks of a motive to gain political mileage and of double standards. We have Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi [in the public sphere]. I think it is the male ego, which cannot accept women going out. It is a mindset. In the corporate sector men find it difficult to take orders from women bosses. Only time will change these attitudes. Everything is becoming open.”
Unexpected response
On the rampage: Sri Ram Sene activists assaulting people at a pub in Bangalore.
Apart from the attacks on the women, the manner in which the National Commission for Women has handled the issue has provoked comment. Sandhya Gokhale of the Forum Against Oppression of Women says the first NCW response was unexpected and not a positive one. There were some attempts to give a clean chit to those attackers. None of the women attacked were interviewed. “People are aghast that someone should dictate terms to them and tell them where to drink and where not to. This is all to do with the concept of purity and morality. There is also a presumption that men have the right to decide what is good and bad for women. It’s a power hierarchy. On one level it’s a morality issue, but on another you are taking away the decision making powers and space that women have fought for so many years,” she feels.
Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar says it’s definitely a law and order problem. However, it is also a political issue and the more latitude you give such groups the more they get encouraged. Akshara Kundalia, 18, a second year junior college student says, “The attack, done in the name of culture, is wrong. The attackers had no right to say that women should not go to pubs. It is not in our cultural tradition to beat women. Tomorrow they will say going to the movies is against our culture. We are not doing anything wrong; as long as we are within the ambit of law.” Teenager Anirudh Bhayani, another junior college student too says it is not in our culture to raise our hands against women. “You are not man enough if you do that. If you feel drinking is wrong, you can advice people, but you cannot beat them. You are simply being a killjoy. When you [attackers] want to make merry you will do so. The attackers by their acts have insulted the Indian culture; they have insulted themselves. They merely wanted to gain publicity. I had never heard of this party before.”
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