Is there an antidote for moral policing?

Friends,

I am at a loss for words! One month back I wrote about moral policing spreading in India. Today, it has continued its rise and is now spreading to Goa. For someone who may be looking at the India map, you can clearly see how it is spreading fast from its origins in Mangalore. Despite these guys being openly blatant, Indian government is yet to take any action against these people. In fact, they are not even bothered, it seems.

So, now the real question is, is there an antidote to this? What do you suggest should be done to prevent this from spreading? If you have any comments or suggestions on non-violent, ethical, moral and legal means, please post your comments here.

Mahesh

Related link:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pubs-beware-sri-ram-sene-to-now-work-in-goa/436141/

Moral police infection spreads in India

The so-called moral policing is now spreading farther and wider across India, but unfortunately, we see that the media is already moving away from the subject. Today, there is a small report in "The Hindu," but the majority of the Indian newspapers have ignored this today.

By now, some of you may have heard that there was another attack in Haryana where a girl was beat up, but this time by a police officer!!!! The police officer's name is "Moola RAM." You can read the full story and also see a video of the incident here.

I would think that if everyone who has Ram in their names start thinking they are the moral police, Lord Ram himself has to come and save us from this onslaught. However, fortunately, we have some creative individuals like Nisha Susan battling the situation by sending pink underwear to Ram Sena. (Read full story by NPR here). Thanks to Nisha for reducing some of the workload and heartburn for Lord Ram!

We all know that the moral police are neither moral nor police! If anything they are far from being moral. Our father of India, Gandhi has taught us that the best way to fight people in power is with defiance and non-violent non-cooperation, much like what Nisha is doing. If we resort to these methods, I am sure that even a behemoth can be tamed and brought to its knees. In this case, Sri Ram Sena and others like them, may not actually be in power, but they seem to be backed by the government's inaction against their violence. So, let's keep our cool and use Gandhi's principles to fight this injustice. Ultimately, we will prevail.

The rise of Indiban - Taliban equivalent in India?

This morning I was reading the Indian Express online and found the disturbing headlines in the newspaper:

Moral policing: Girl commits suicide in Mangalore
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/moral-policing-girl-commits-suicide-in-mangalore/422628/

Words cannot describe the horror that many Indian youth are going through right now. We are in the 21st century for god's sake and we have these kinds of atrocities going on in India! I am sure that many youth in India have their blood boiling at this.

For those of you who are not entirely familiar about this, recently, a religious group called the "Sri Ram Sene" went into a pub and beat up some girls and guys dancing just because they don't approve of girls dancing or drinking! Come on! What age are we living in? It is the right of every human being to have fun. Sure, I am a teetotaler myself, but that doesn't mean that I would like to curtail the rights of others. Who is this Ram sene to dictate what we should or should not do?

Regardless of what Ram sene does, the more disturbing part is that the Indian government is not doing anything about it. This inaction only bolsters these kinds of people. After the pub incident, when the government did not do anything to arrest these attackers, they started issuing warnings to anyone who would celebrate Valentine's day! When the government still did not do anything, they publicly issued a threat stating that they will beat up anyone who celebrates Valentine's day! The Government is still sleeping.

Valentine's day is not yet here, but you can already see other groups starting to harass girls and guys just for meeting! Unfortunately, now a girl has committed suicide after this. The father of the girl instead of blaming the fundamentalists, has registered a case against the person with whom the girl went to talk to. He alleges rape. Whether there really was rape or not, we may never know, but it is unfortunate that the girl had to die. I am sure there will be no investigation just like nothing has been done about Ram sene's threats so far, and I am sure that our society will continue to blame innocent young people who defy the norms of our society.

The only way to reverse this is to rebel against this and start demanding open mindedness not only from our own families, but also the government. As long as we vote based on religious ideals, we will never be able to change the system. These kinds of acts are only another way of building walls in our society and religions. Since when did a Hindu girl talking to a Muslim boy become a crime? Wake up fellow citizens! It is time to act and demand our government to open its eyes. Otherwise, we can only blame ourselves for the rise of Indiban (Indian Taliban.)