The Hindu, 14 February 2009
Arundhati decries Mangalore pub attack as “class war on women’s agencies”
Parul Sharma
“They want to stop us from breathing. We need to reclaim the air”
— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
ASSERTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS: Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy addresses a meeting against moral policing in New Delhi on Friday.
NEW DELHI: A month after the much talked about Mangalore pub incident where Sri Ram Sene activists humiliated women, Delhi University students and teachers gathered on the North Campus on Friday to speak out against moral policing.
Joined by eminent writer Arundhati Roy, they assembled at the Vivekananda Statue to celebrate “Freedom of Expression and Women’s Rights,” an event organised by the All-India Students’ Association and the All-India Progressive Women’s Association.
Students and teachers read out passages on the theme of freedom of expression and women’s rights from the works of eminent personalities such as Tamil iconoclast and social reformist Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, social scientist Friedrich Engels, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, Pakistani poets Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib, Kannada poet-saint Akka Mahadevi, and various gay and lesbian writers.
One teacher read out a poem on the Mangalore schoolgirl who committed suicide this past week and another on the protest by the Manipuri women after the alleged rape and killing of Thangjam Manorama by Assam Rifles personnel.
Arundhati Roy read out an excerpt from her Booker Prize-winning book “The God of Small Things.”
Addressing the audience, she said: “When you define love, you limit it. To me, love is everything that I am fighting for. I support every kind of love.” Referring to the Mangalore pub incident, she said there seemed to be a “class war on women’s bodies.”
“We have seen in Afghanistan, Iran and some parts of Pakistan how easy it is to shut women down.… I ran away from home when I was 16, not because I was suffering. But to me, the idea of growing up in a small village was intolerable. I ran away to be able to be happy, to be free…They want to stop us from breathing. We need to reclaim the air. We need to do this every day. It is important to challenge and celebrate, daily, the struggle for freedom and democracy….”
Rajendra Yadav, who edits the Hans literary monthly, asked why the entire burden of maintaining Indian culture and traditions was on women and not men. “Does Indian culture teach us to beat up women and restrict them to homes? Are we aping the Taliban? Who decides what is Westernised or not? They [the saffron brigade] conveniently pick up things from the Western world that suit them and want to ban others. This is not the era of Westernisation but globalisation,” he said.
Rameshwar Rai of Hindu College spoke about love as a form of rebellion from times immemorial, quoting the poetry of Mirabai. “We are holding this event because we want to tell every woman, every man — please refuse to be humiliated, take strength from collective protest, and resist the fascists. We will not allow the “morality police” to dictate our morals,” said AIPWA national secretary Kavita Krishnan.
A little-known group called Youth Unity for Vibrant Action (YUVA) tried to disrupt the proceedings by shouting slogans against the organisers and Ms. Roy.
“We oppose what Sri Ram Sene did in Mangalore but at the same time we are also against the “Pink Underwear Campaign.” That is not a dignified way of lodging your protest,” said Varun Sharma, an activist of the recently formed group.
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