Young Indians square up to nationalists over Valentine's Day
Young secular Indians are organising their own vigilante groups - some armed with Taekwondo moves, others with pepper spray - to protect unmarried couples from Hindu radicals looking to disrupt Valentine's Day celebrations.
For the first time, several secular groups have organised patrols across the country to combat the Hindu nationalist organisations which they accuse of trying to "Talebanise" India. The secular groups decided to act after television coverage showed activists from the Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram's Army) attacking women in a pub in the southern college town of Mangalore last month.
A 15-year-old Hindu girl from a village near the same town commited suicide on Wednesday after being attacked by Hindu radicals for being in the company of a Muslim boy.
In Delhi, a group called the Earth Saviours' Foundation is responding by sending ten teams of five vigilantes - including Taekwondo experts - to patrol the city's parks, markets and other public places. "We're sending a strong message that times have changed and women have equal rights," said Ravi Kalra, the founder of ESF, who is also head of the India Amateur Taekwondo Federation.
"Our teams will have boot polish, and anyone harassing women will have their faces blackened and be handed over to the cops," he told The Times.
The Delhi chapter of the Kashmir-based National Panthers Party is also sending out vigilantes armed with pepper spray. In Chennai - formerly Madras - one of India's leading sexologists says he hopes to attract 6,000 people to a run along the Marina sea front, where police attacked promenading young lovers last year. In Bangalore, a secular political party has organised a fleet of "love vehicles" to patrol areas such as the Cubbon Park which are often frequented by young lovers.
These are rare examples of young, secular Indians organising themselves spontaneously to stand up to the powerful Hindu nationalist movement, which wants to rid India of foreign influences. However, their plans have raised fears of violent clashes with the nationalists, who are rallying votes for their political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party, ahead of national elections, due by May.
In Delhi, the Hindu nationalist youth group Bajrang Dal has sent letters to all pubs and discos warning them not to host any event promoting "obscenity and nudity". In Mumbai, the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party has told colleges not to allow any Valentine's Day events, and promised to protest against any form of "vulgarity". In Chennai, the Hindu Makkal Katchi party has warned that lovers found in public will be handed over to the police.
In Bangalore, meanwhile, the SRS has called off its plans to target unmarried couples but vowed to carry out its threat elsewhere in the southern state of Karnataka. Pramod Mutalik, the SRS leader, said his group was "protecting Indian culture" after it attacked several young Indian women in a pub in Mangalore last month.
He was arrested, but soon released on bail, prompting criticism from secular Indians of the Karnataka state government, which is run by the BJP.
Mr Mutalik then threatened to force unmarried couples seen in public on Valentine's Day either to get married or to tie "rakhis" - string bracelets - on their wrists to signify they are brother and sister. He was forced to scale back his plans after the federal Home Minister wrote to the local government warning that it would intervene if local police could not maintain law and order.
The decision was partly due to publicity generated by a Facebook group called the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, which now has more than 30,000 members.
Nisha Susan, a 29-year-old journalist who founded the group, urged women to send pink "chaddis" - panties in Hindi - to the SRS and to celebrate Valentine's Day by going to the pub.
She told The Times that supporters from India, and as far afield as Puerto Rico, had sent more than 1,500 pairs of panties to the SRS.
Tejuswini Chowdhury, the daughter of the Minister for Women, also set up a Facebook group encouraging Indian women to go to the pub, which has attracted some 3,000 members. She had planned to take more than 100 women friends to the same pub in Mangalore that was attacked but was forced to cancel because local authorities could not guarantee their safety.
She told The Times she was now planning to take her friends to a pub in her home city of Hyderabad, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. "This is the first time I've seen people coming together with such passion in their voices," she said. "I hope the trend continues."
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5729126.ece)
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