The South Wing

On any weekday evening in the Valentine’ Day week, passersby outside the Victoria’s Secret store on Fifth Avenue in New York City would have marveled at the gargantuan queues at the cash registers. The women bought lingerie, predominantly in shades of pink and red, to set the tone right for their February 14 dates. Ostensibly, pink is the color of feminine amorousness. And this is precisely why, across the globe, a consortium of Indian women plan to send around 500 pieces of frilly pink underwear to Pramod Muthalik, a politician who proposes a ban on Valentine’s Day celebrations in India. Shopping for these, however, is fueled by vengeance rather than love.

Muthalik is the man behind the right-wing Hindu nationalist group called the Shri Ram Sena. He and his men are self-appointed “custodians of Indian culture” and believe that Valentine’s Day, among other things, is against the core values of what they define as Indian societal norms. The group has threatened violent outbursts if unmarried couples are found celebrating the “Western festival” in any way since it encourages sexual misdemeanors. The group prefaced its threat by attacking young women at a pub in Mangalore, a quiet college town in South India on January 25. Apparently, “pub culture” is against Indian mores as well.

The hilariously titled “Indian Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women” has come together in response to this Taliban-like religious political outfit. Using the social-networking site Facebook as a platform, the group’s “Pink Chhaddi” ( Hindi slang for knickers) campaign already has 25,350 supporters. And apart from setting up collection centers to collect knickers to be mailed to Muthalik on February 13, it exhorts women to “walk to the nearest pub and buy a drink” on Valentine’s Day. The chaddis allude to another prominent right-wing Hindu group whose cadres often wear khaki-shorts and are derisively called “chaddi wallahs” (chaddi wearers).

BBC News quoted one of the masterminds behind the consortium, Nisha Susan, a 29 year-old journalist: “It’s a choice between ignoring a group like Shri Ram Sena or responding to its activities. We have decided to give it attention, but it is the sort of attention that it will not like.” Susan admits that the consortium started off as a joke but has now become something bigger, and more political.

They are not up against something entirely new. Hindu vigilante groups are active in many parts of India and have in the past targeted couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. But it is the organized nature of the violent pub attack this time around that gives reason to be alarmed. Such events force one to invoke notions of personal freedom and cultural expression, especially when they occur in a country that prides itself in being the world’s most populous democracy.

Valentine’s Day has long been criticized as a product of commercial culture. It induces people to spend beyond their means and renders the multilayered emotion of love flat. But what’s worse than being an unsuspecting target of subliminal marketing mechanisms is being a target of political power dynamics. The debated origins and relevance of the day not withstanding, the fact that a political outfit would try to “ban” celebrations is disturbing.

This Saturday as they dine or buy gifts, it is possible that for many Indians, personal freedom will be higher on their minds than love. And it is sad that the day of love will be marked by a million personal political battles. wild bunch the dvd download

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