Moral Policing and Custodians of Society

Recently the so called agitation staged by a group of youngsters in Kerala, ‘the kiss of love’ has caught the imagination of the youth in India.  Such acts of protests pervaded to other parts of the country too, including some in front of offices of RSS and other Hindu organizations. On the backdrop of ‘love jihad’, an amorous act that was turned and twisted to benefit some, ‘kiss of love’ has certain underlying politics too.

When we talk about moral policing, the political and religious outfits anoint themselves to be the custodians of society. Morality and normative behaviour have different connotations in different societies and its credibility to be ambivalent and ubiquitous is in nobody’s hands. The pictures of Sri Ram Sena activists bashing and vandalizing couples at parks and cafeterias on Valentines Day, or the persistent taunts poked at Sania Mirza, (on her attire)  accused of degrading the status of Muslim women, have been encrypted in our minds. There are many things that play here too.

Firstly, ‘moral policing’, inevitably relates to the issue of ‘appropriateness’ of behaviour of women. The Public Display of Affection (PDA) involves both men and women but the societal norm that the sexuality of a woman is in the hands of men demands women to be tutored. It is always the ‘girl’ who is at fault. Moral policing reflects the archaic mentality that is based on man’s traditional control over women and ‘commodifying’ them.

Secondly, it’s the ‘modernity’ issue. The propagators of a progressive society, who fathom on orthodoxy and the regressive attitude, fail to see the real picture. Yes, there are several ‘evils’ prevailing in our society, but it is our responsibility to cure it. Yes, democracy, urbanization, globalization have made women demand for equality on all fronts (deservingly), but this modernity has to be expansive and inclusive.  One should realise that the vast amount of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on Facebook do not translate into passionate multitudes on ground. Social networking sites are distant from the hard reality of life. If we are kissing on public today, we won’t be able to face the repercussions later. Even for a married couple, which has the sanctions of the society, is it okay to do stuff in public that is supposed to be a private affair? Our society is rapidly transforming into a progressive society, but we haven’t reached ‘there’ yet. Modernity and ‘norms’ co exist here. Such act grates on the sensibilities of our people, particularly, in the non urban areas.

Finally, it is accepted that certain political outfits carry out certain unethical actions to gain political mileage (and should be opposed), but the ‘kiss of love’ organizers’ fight against the ‘moral police’ cops, though has well meaning, has gone awry because of the wrong tactic that they have employed. One can support and stand by them if they adopt socially relevant and culturally accepted modes of agitation. Modernization is not Westernization and it is upon us to choose the right lessons and not allow the boundary between the public and private shift or become blur. Also there is a lot of difference between what people write and what people practise. Nobody likes PDA in public places!!!