Valentine Day is over and I assume it is also the end of the hyped Pink Chaddi Campaign. Well I sincerely hope that the Pink Chaddi Freedom Supporters would carry their spirit forward to fight for the rights of women belonging to all religions and living in any place in the country. Somehow the protest didn’t seem to impress me and millions of others (if at all they are aware) in the country for a range of reasons. We also need to understand the background of the entire episode to come up with proper views.
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
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