The other day I saw a news video in a leading English Channel which had a girl telling about the way she was slapped by some hooligans in Bangalore. The caption that followed this story was something like this – ‘Bangalore Not Safe For Women?’. There were few more such incidents that were reported from Karnataka with a lot of passion from the National Channels/News Portals. Definitely all these incidents if they really happened need to be condemned but what I feel is that they shouldn’t be blown out of proportion for the simple fact that there are more attrocious incidents that keep on repeating through the length and breadth of the country. To just pick on one state just because there is a BJP Government in rule looks fishy.

What surprises me is that when I sneak into a Bangalore Group in Orkut that has about 80k members, none of these incidents seemed to be talked about. The mood over there doesn’t seem to be that anti-govermnent while there is a lot of hue and cry for even a ‘pin fall incident’ reported from Karnataka in e-groups such as the ‘Pink Chaddi Group’ in Facebook which feed on seemingly biassed reports from say NDTV and Times of India.  For me it looks as if some vested parties in the Centre and the Media are perhaps trying to make a fuss of everything that is happening in Karnataka.

In my own state Andhra Pradesh, there have been several incidents of acid attacks on college going girls. Unfortunately I don’t think I have seen Renuka Chowdhury, the Hon. Minister for Women and Child Welfare coming out on National TV to take a note of these serious issues happening in her own state which is under the Congress rule. Any intelligent person can clearly understand the double standards! So what I want to say is that there seems to be a section of biased media that is trying to magnify trivial things just for the sake of maligning the BJP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar and of course you have the Congress leaders trying to encash on every opportunity that comes their way. After all they need to as the millions of citizens will never forgive the UPA Government for the 60-odd bomb blasts and the Mumbai mayhem.

Here are a few points that clearly show double standards from a section of the Media and others:

1. Although the BJP has nothing to do with the Shri Ram Sene and Pramod Muthalik, a lot of people cleverly try to say that the Ram Sene is part of the Sangh Parivar and getting protected by the BJP. Instead of condeming the Ram Sene directly, they try to mud sling the BJP and most importantly the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) which was wrongly dragged into the Mangalore Pub attacks.
2. Take the instance of the abduction case of the daughter of a Kerala CPI MLA CH Kunhambu. The Media reported that she was kidnapped by Hindutva activists because she was traveling with a Muslim friend. A lot of noise came from all the quarters to say that Mangalore was getting Talibanized. It was later proved that the MLA’s own supporters belonging to the CPI’s student wing DYFI had done the abduction just to save the girl’s modesty. Even after the truth is out, this incident is still used in a lot of media articles as an example of ‘moral policing’ by Saffron Brigade carried out under full support of the BJP State Government!
3. The other case is that of the suicide of a minor girl called ‘Ashwini’ in South Karnataka. Despite the fact that the Police had arrested a person by the name Saleem, a 28-year-old on the grounds of sexually exploiting the girl, the blame just continues to be put on ‘Moral Policing’ by some Hindu activists and indirectly accusing that it is all because of the BJP Government being communal.
4. More than 100 people were arrested by the Bangalore Police recently in a liquor party that went till 4 AM in the morning. That party was illegal according to the Law of the Land and the Police on a tip off had arrested them. Now this incident is being projected as the Karnataka Government’s ‘Moral Policing’ by a section of the media.
5. Dr. VS Acharya, the Home Minister of Karnataka has asked for public opinion in his blog on whether the Police had done the right thing or not in arresting people who had participated in that illegal booze party. The post received more than 70 comments, quite a lot of them supporting the Police action and showing no sympathy to the boozers. Interestingly Times of India which has been branded as nothing but a ‘Page 3′ newspaper by its critics ran an article about that same VS Acharya Blog post in which it mentions only comments that were criticizing the Police just to create an image that the BJP Government is not functioning well.

We will have to wait and see how things develop in the coming days, there is just so much of action happening around. From the Mangalore Pub attacks to the latest Charlie Chaplin Statue Controversy, the state of Karnataka is being watched closely by the Witch hunters! Can the State Government over there come out clean? There is certainly a Witch Hunt in progress on the B.S. Yedyurappa Government and of course on the State Home Minister Dr. V.S. Acharya. I would say that the Karnataka Government needs to be strong like Narendra Modi in Gujarat and just ignore the mud slinging and just continue with its duties. Let’s see all that, but all of us know that with the elections coming up next month, there will be plenty of drama to be expected to put the BJP in a tight spot!

In an interview with Mumbai-based Mid Day, Muthalik did make some thought provoking comments. He says that he supports Nathuram Godse instead of Mahatma Gandhi as the latter was instrumental in aiding Pakistan by forcing the Indian Government to pay 55 Crores Rs. to Pakistan. Muthalik also says that his group Shri Ram Sene doesn’t have any relations with the BJP, a point that needs to be noted.

Muthalik goes onto say that the attacks on Churches in Mangalore were because of the malicious conversions hatched out by the missionaries. Disappointingly there were no questions asked by the interviewer related to Renuka Chowdhury and about the Pink Chaddi Campaign. Well anway here is the Interview of Pramod Muthalik.

Background of the Pub attacks and the incidents following that:

1. I understand that there could be a political conspiracy to the Mangalaore pub attack. The usual trend that goes on is that a couple of stray incidents are forced to happen in the BJP-ruled states every now and then. The Media is quick to blow them out of proportion, like something that has happened is shown repetitively in a loop to the extent that the viewer is brain-washed and is forced to believe the words of the news presenter at any cost. The incident was perhaps cleverly orchestrated a couple of days before the Republic Day. The Media wants the Police to be everywhere and at any time. I guess the poor cops were busy gearing up for the Republic Day parade while some of them were keeping a close vigil on the Terrorist Sleeper cells. If the Media folks (they also had prior knowledge about the attack) are so good why didn’t they inform the Cops before hand instead of shooting the episode like a Cinema? Isn’t it the duty of the citizens to inform the cops immediately? I mean aren’t the enthusiastic media folks also Citizens of India? What if the altercation ended up in an unfortunate death, do the media people wait for something like that to happen?

2. The Police enter the scene and do their job according to the law of the land making the necessary arrests. Why shouldn’t we believe the Police on their stand? I quote from the Blog of the Karnataka Home Minister Dr VS Acharya – The police arrested 10 culprits within 30 min of the incident. Within 24 hours they had arrested 27 people. Still every news paper/channel and parties started accusing the Home Minister and the police of inaction? What does “Action” mean? I assume for them “arresting and keeping indefinitely” accounts to some action. Now if the court grants bail, how can we blame the police/HM for that?

3. The National English News Channels have already taken sides and they are bent on stressing what they want to say and if something ridicules/contradicts them then it is given the least airtime! Now taking full advantage of the situation is our Centre Minister of Woman – Renuka Chowdhury who tries to do her best to create panic with her strong words making the populace of Karnataka insecure and inflicting distrust amongst them about their elected state government. Election time is nearing and the politicians are waiting to pounce on all the tiniest opportunities available to score their points.

4. Much to the delight of some vested parties was an incident involving the abduction of a Kerala MLA daughter’s abduction from a bus in Mangalore. The Media reported that it was the work of the Saffron Brigade – Shri Ram Sene and once again drawing battle lines with the Karnataka Government. Renuka Chowdhury has now got enough fuel and she screams there is a complete breakdown in law and order in Karnataka and saying that there is a clear communal divide happening. She then screams that Mangalore is getting ‘Talibanized’! Kaha Taliban Kaha yeh chotta sa Ram Sene gang? People who have seen Renuka Chowdhury over the years know quite well about how she talks and her overreactions while many of the people who might be unawares might have found her as an extremely brave lady standing up for the women against all odds!

5. But we have a twist here with the Karnataka Cops arresting the abductors of the MLA’s daughter and they are not from the Shri Rama Sena but the MLA’s own party men (related to the CPI and the DYFI). OOPS!! Meanwhile the Karnataka Police successfully solve the Bangalore Serial Bomb Blasts and thus proving the efficiency to the entire nation.

6. The Media waited for another incident to happen in Karnataka, this time it was a suicide of a minor girl allegedly due to moral policing according to the media and because of a sexual assault by a 26-year-old youth according to the Karnataka Government. The Media painted this as a Hindu-Muslim case and thus sensitizing the issue dangerously.

7. There are other activities going on in the state – one involving the Congress youth activists disrupting an anti-terror awareness campaign by the Government which doesn’t get enough exposure in the media. We also have the Karnataka Government arresting Pramod Muthalik and his associates as a preventive measure before the Valentine’s Day. The Pink Chaddi people might have been thinking that they had virtually forced the Karnataka Government to succumb under their pressure which has resulted in these arrests.

Now talking about the Pink Chaddi Campaign, the reasons why some of us (I haven’t counted the number, sorry) are not convinced about it:

This Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women (the name that an Aam Aadmi like me would call it is ‘The Pink Chaddi Group’) started on February 5th by a lady urging people from all over the country and NRIs to donate Pink Chaddis which would be sent collectively to Pramod Muthalik and his gang as a mark of insult. Little did people know that the lady (Nisha Susan) who initiated was very much part of the Tehelka.

This image shows the Tehelka address given by the Pink Chaddi group but subsequently removed.

Here is a little background information about the Tehelka which is an investigative publication that is known for making sting operations, but all of them incidentally only on the BJP and its coalition party, not a single sting against the Congress!

The Tehelka doesn’t enjoy the credibility though according to what all I have come across on the net, the agency itself admitting the use of ‘Prostitutes in the Operation West End’ (References : 1. http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/aug/22teh.htm 2. http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20010903/nation-tehelka.shtml ) and then in the Sting on Narendra Modi which couldn’t prove any solid evidence and didn’t prevent Modi from winning the State Elections in 2007.

So with Tehelka possibly pushing the Pink Chaddi Campaign, getting it publicity would not be so difficult. As a common man, I don’t have any problem whatsoever as who is behind it or not. But the reason that hurt me like many others to begin with about the campaign – although it was supposed to be against the Shri Ram Sene, the Pink Chaddi Group led by Nishan Susan had used the ‘RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)’ pictures in their logos. A couple of days later perhaps, the logos were forced to be changed because of few intelligent people who had pointed the question as to why the RSS was used in the picture which was no way related to the Shri Ram Sene and its deeds. But the damage was already done with foreign media interviewing Nisha Susan and the television reports beaming pictures of the RSS Cadre and referring them as the Shri Ram Sene that were involved in the Mangalore pub attack. In fact the chaddies were used as the symbol for the Campaign because the RSS Cadres wear shorts.

According to the wikipedia article – the RSS is primarily a social organization. As such, one of its tasks is to provide relief to areas affected by natural calamities. For instance, in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Indian newsmagazine Outlook’s reporter Saba Naqvi Bhaumik reported that:

“Literally within minutes RSS volunteers were at the scenes of distress. Across Gujarat, the (RSS) cadres were the saviours. Even as the state machinery went comatose in the first two days after the quake, the cadre-based machinery of the Sangh fanned out throughout the state. Approximately 35,000 RSS members in uniform were pressed into service.”

Complete Reference – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh

Damage to RSS in BBC and others :

A spokeswoman for the group, Nisha Susan, told the BBC it was giving chaddis (Hindi colloquial for underwear) as they alluded to a prominent Hindu right-wing group whose khaki-shorts-wearing cadres were often derisively called “chaddi wallahs” (chaddi wearers). (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7880377.stm)

Pink chaddis certainly beat roses in sheer shock value, but there’s a reason for choosing them as a symbol of protest. “The RSS wears khaki knickers,” says Nisha Susan, the Tehelka employee whose brainchild this is, “so we chose pink ones!” (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/geetanjali-krishnakick-inknickers/00/25/348984/)

Damage to RSS’ Image:

The group gathered huge number of members thanks to the aggressive backing up of the electronic channels and some popular newspapers. Thousands of people came in with good intentions to vent their anger against Pramod Muthalik which was fine. Now the next thing that many of the people didn’t like about the Pink Chaddi Campaign was the ‘Pub Bharo’ which certainly promoted as a good advertisement for people to consume alcohol. Factors like Pink Panties of women, the Pub Bharo which was urging people to fill up pubs somehow didn’t gel with many people, especially the middle aged people (parents I must say) who certainly have seen more life than the youngsters. Renuka Chowdhury, the women welfare minister had said ‘Pub Bharo’ and that was picked up by the group. I did notice some of the biased opinions in the group; they just didn’t bother to change their stand and continue to bash the Ram Sene for the MLA daughter abduction, the suicide of the minor girl although initial reports from the media on both cases proved to be wrong towards the end.

Now whether this was an effective Congress influenced campaign to counter the aggressive LK Advani ads on the internet or was it to show the BJP-ruled state in poor light, we do not know. Even if the Tehelka had sponsored this on the behest of the Congress, we don’t understand what the Campaign has achieved for them. With the Ram Sene people burning the sent Pink Chaddis, it is even more confusing to understand what the impact of the Campaign has been. I guess we can safely say that the people who have benefited from this are Pub Owners and not to forget the Chaddi Sellers. Well critics of the Pink Chaddi Campaign and Renuka Chowdhury are waiting to see if they can act in the same manner against Right wings of all the religions that do moral policing on women or is it just selectively done only against a tiny Ram Sene outfit in Karnataka and in general only aimed at Saffron brigade (and bashing the BJP). I am confused though having read that some of the Mangalorean girls were thanking some saffron activists for saving them from certain predators according to the comments in some sites. Well all I can say is one has got to be secular in not only words but also in actions.

Here is one video that I came across, posted by someone on the youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9zVDWX_ql4

I know that there has been some malice against Hinduism that has been going on in states like Karnataka, for instance have a look at these images, a pamplet circulated by one missionaries of New Life which really caused unnecessary communal trouble in the state. These images should speak for themselves.

Image1
Image2
Image3

My intention here is not to spark any tension among various communities. As a Hindu, I respect all the other religions and at the same time expect the same from my fellow Indians. This is just a humble request to think again before defaming any religion. It would be better if the Pink Chaddi Campaigners put some disclaimer around that image, the best is to remove the controversial background.

• Om Image Source
• Pink Chaddi Image Source

Muthalik however said that there will be no activities from his side on the Valentine Day’s in Bangalore as he reckons that miscreants would be taking every advantage to to fake as Hindu fundamentalists and cause an embarassment for his organisation and also the Karnataka Government. Muthalik said that if his activists find anybody dressed indecently, then they will protest in front of them in a peaceful manner. The Shri Ram Sena leader claims that his message has reached the people and that more than 50 per cent of the colleges in Karnataka have directed their students not to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

It is indeed smart on either Muthalik (or perhaps the Government taking preventive measures) to come up with this statement as just today there was a suicide of a minor in Karnataka that was attributed to ‘Hindu Radicals’ by the Media. The flip story is that the 15-year-old Ashwini was lured and raped by an adult boy by the name Saleem. Post-mortem reports have confirmed about the crime.

Related Articles:

• Renuka Chowdhury gets Legal Notice for making offending statements on Mangalore!
• Renuka Chowdhury and her ‘Pub Baro’ to protest Shri Ram Sene