Red faces, Crimson roses and Pink panties this on Valentine’s Day
When you see the image of a heart with an arrow stuck through it on Valentine’s Day, don’t be surprised if the arrow is not of cupid. It probably is the arrow shot by the Sangh Parivar or one of the many groups who protest against Valentine’s Day.
Why do some celebrate this day while some protest against it?
So what is the whole fuss about? Why is this day celebrated and after whom? There are many famous legends about St Valentine after whom the Valentine’s Day is celebrated, the most popular one being about his conducting marriages of young lovers in secret in third century Rome. Every year, 14th February draws different responses from different sections of our society. Youngsters in urban areas flock to restaurants which have candle-lit dinners accompanied with romantic music, exchange roses and Card shops are full of soft toys and chocolates.
India post 1991 saw liberalization bringing in many products from the west, and also values and traditions of the west. So in came Mcdonalds, Benetton, English slang words and Valentine’s Day. In the last few years, the commercialization of this day by means of cards, chocolates and stuffed toys and the hype created by various offers, events and media made it a big occasion along the lines of other major festivals celebrated in India.
Around this time, the Muslim rightist organizations as well as ‘swadeshi’ organizations like the Bajrang Dal. Shiv Sena and the latest Sri Ram Sene started organizing protests against this ‘cultural import’. Other than the Bajrang Dal, specific to Kashmir, the Islamic group Dukhtaran-e-Millat or Daughters of the Community, Kashmir’s only women’s separatist group is also known for its fiercely conservative social views.
Protests are marked by activities ranging from burning down Valentine’s Day cards and shouting slogans of ‘Down with Valentine’s Day’, to beating up of youngsters found to be celebrating this day, among other activities. These hardliners get more creative every year.
This year was no different, in an extreme case, a brother and sister duo in Ujjain were chased and harassed by 4 Bajrang Dal activists who were later arrested by the police. In another brutal case, a sub-inspector of Haryana police was suspended after he allegedly beat up a couple after dragging them out of their house. Already, nearly 600 activists of the Shri Ram Sene, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and other fringe groups in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi were taken into preventive custody on Friday, the 13th.
In an incident that made a mockery of a group threatening to get couples married on Valentine’s Day, a couple purposely got caught and were married by a Hindu priest in the presence of the Bajrang Dal. Little did the activists know that the irony was on them since the couple wanted to get married but their families were not ready to accept it!
In other cities, faces were blackened, heads shaved off of young men found celebrating February 14th, and in a bizarre cases, donkeys with Valentine’s Day cards on their backs were paraded and the cards later set on fire by the extremist groups. A group of girls in Patna even offered flowers to the photo of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for developing the state of Bihar.
Even Rajya Sabha members couldn’t resist bringing this day up during the course of proceedings on 13th as many members demanded a ban on right-wing groups which were acting like the ‘Indian Taliban’. Brinda Karat (CPM) said that the Centre should take steps to ensure safety of young people on the Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day in Jammu and Kashmir
Valentine’s Day in Jammu and Kashmir this time was different, other than the usual moral policing done by Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of faith/nation) and some other groups and some low-key celebrations, this year saw a unique initiative by the Socialistic Democratic Party. The SDP activists celebrated Feb 14th as “Indo-Pak Love and Peace Day” and gathered on the banks of the river Chenab at the border town of Akhnoor where they sent dozens of boats filled with messages of peace and decorated with balloons and flowers across the border. The river flows into Pakistan. “We return the guns sent by you and send you flowers of love and peace”, a placard read. The boats also contained letters written by victims of violence and terrorism from the entire state sent as a symbolical gesture which will later be handed over to the Pakistan High Commissioner at New Delhi.
Meanwhile, in Jammu, many shops remained opened till late as people preferred to give flowers at the stroke of midnight. The Jammu police claimed that their officers in plain clothes were deployed around the city to prevent any mischief. Incidents of burning of Valentine’s Day cards and flowers was reported from many parts of the city, with Shiv Sena (Hindustan) being held responsible for this. Their leader claimed that this was a Western gimmick to increase sales and against the rich ‘Dogri culture.
In Srinagar, it was Asiya Andrabi on her rounds as usual flanked by 3 other activists of the DeM, who raided the city centre, Lal Chowk and also conducted a series of surprise raids on restaurants, internet cafes and card shops. DeM claims that Valentine’s Day is unIslamic and for the last four years has been organizing such protests across the city, which actually resulted in an automatic restraint on part of the youth of the valley when it came to celebrating the day.
But perhaps, Asiya and other activists are missing the economic opportunity that might be there for the people of J and K during Valentine’s Day. J and K can actually give competition to the state of Himachal Pradesh when it comes to making money on Valentine’s Day by the sale of flowers. Apparently, this year, floriculturists in HP made a huge fortune by exporting carnations and other flowers to Chandigarh, Delhi, Ludhiana and Dehradun. Due to the right kind of terrain and climate, the farmers in HP reap huge profits on cultivation of flowers. Figures estimate yearly earnings of Rs 220 million.
The Civil Society Campaigns – A novelty this year
All over India, more than love being celebrated, it was freedom which the youth wanted to celebrate, freedom to follow what they believe in. And to defend this freedom, more groups around India this year decided to do more than just buy roses for Valentine’s Day. The Valentine’s Day this year saw the power of civil society initiatives supported by technology that bridged across distances in the form of the ‘Pink Chaddi’ Campaign. The campaign started on ‘facebook’ as a ‘Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women’ and turned into a full-fledged medium of protest when the group called for a nationwide campaign of sending Mr Pramod Muthalik ‘pink underwear’ on Valentine’s Day. Notably, Mr Muthalik’s Shri Ram Sene group gained notoriety after manhandling and beating up women in Mangalore pub as they considered women drinking liquor ‘against Indian culture’.
The group’s campaign received an enthusiastic response from all over the country as parcels of pink underwear landed in the group’s office in Hubli. In retaliation, one of the group’s members said at first they had thought of sending the same panties to an orphanage, but would now burn them as they carried vulgar slogans. Notably, the Sene called off protests in Bangalore stating that they had information of some miscreants creating disruptions on Valentine’s Day and then blaming their group for it.
Other groups that organized such protests in different ways were Youth for Equality, All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and the Northeast Support Centre in New Delhi which organized peaceful protests and symbolically celebrated the day. There were also groups like the Earth Saviours Foundation and the Delhi unit of the National Panthers Party who played the knights in shining armours to hapless couples by rescuing them from harassment by the moral vigilantes. A group of Eunuchs also joined in equipped with pepper spray and chilly powder to keep the protestors away from couples.
Police was deployed at possible targets for the fundamentalists like malls, multiplexes, parks, and other public places.
How right are the right-wing groups?
The arguments cited by these groups against the Valentine’s Day fall flat in the face of teeming globalization, it is like a group of Luddites refusing to be even tolerant of the change in culture. The Shiv Sena calls for ‘civilized love and affection’; ironically the Shiv Sena is named after Lord Shiva, whose ‘shivling’ (Phallus) is worshipped throughout the state of Maharashtra. The Dukhtaran-e-Millat leaders call these celebrations as against Islamic teachings.
If these groups really want to ‘save the public places’ and ‘protect their culture’, maybe they should spend more time catching those who write their names on monuments, or spit and litter the parks, but that doesn’t figure on any of their manifestoes! Culturally, maybe they should become more aware about the openness of the culture that they are trying to protect. The sculptures of Khajuraho and many other temples in India are a good example to begin with. There is nothing ‘uncultured’ or ‘western’ about these beautiful sculptures depicting various sexual positions.
This moral policing only serves one purpose – that of getting some publicity. But it serves as a reminder to all of us to the amount of intolerance in our society. As India embraces the global economy, cultural imports are bound to be there. Valentine’s Day and Halloween are not celebrated by many in India, but those who do, should be allowed this freedom of expression. No single group can decide what is good and bad for the whole of Indian culture. India is a vast country with many linkages outside and also diverse within, this is what makes the Indian mosaic beautiful. A few elements like this shouldn’t be given the right to dictate terms for the whole society.
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