Do We Need Moral Policing?

We entered the 21^st century some 14 years ago and we proudly say that we are civilized, however, are we really civilized?

We admire the magnificent erotic statues of Khajurao, and we religiously follow the advice of Saint Vatsyayana in his famous sex manual “Kama Sutra” however we become infuriated if we see two individuals loving each other in public. Forget loving, we lose our mind  when we see girls drinking, dancing or singing publicly. The tragedy of our nation is that it’s OK to piss in public but it’s NOT OK to kiss in public.

Certain self-righteous people, so-called saviors of Indian culture have taken upon themselves to check the moral conduct of young people, especially women. Increasing cases of this moral policing has made me wonder and ask, are we Indians hypocrites? Or do we just want to forever live in a male chauvinist and patriarchal society.

Advocates of moral policing who belong to various political parties and religious groups justify their barbaric behavior by saying that they are just preserving Indian culture and implementing their so-called “Hindutva agenda”.

These savage advocates of moral policing assault people, molest and hurt women, destroy property and artistic expressions. Some of them  consider women drinking and enjoying publicly indecent and moreover consider it an insult to Indian culture and tradition.

This kind of moral policing is not limited to Hindu extremists groups, if you’ll remember the infamous fatwa against tennis player Sania Mirza where a cleric of Sunni Ulema board issued a fatwa against her saying that her attire on the tennis field is un-Islamic. Or in 2013, the Grand Mufti of Kashmir valley issued a fatwa against three female members of a rock band of the valley stating that western culture had no place in their society.

I don’t understand why some people create a ruckus about western culture and western clothes, at one place we have accepted porn stars to be a part of our glorious cinema and on the other hand we are condemn western culture.

These moral police morons are not just against all this, in fact they are even against the LGBT society. In a case of 2013, a ongoing party in Hyderabad was raided by the police for being a gay-party.

Even more shocking is that moral policing is being done even in the field of education. Many state governments including that of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are against sex education. In 2007 Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan banned sex education in school claiming that it has no place in Indian culture.

I just want to ask people like him that if sex has no place in our Indian culture than why has a book like Kamasutra not been banned in India?

We know that in certain religious cultures the union between Ling (Penis) and Yoni (Vagina) is worshiped religiously, however we still consider sex to be taboo. Don’t we realize the reality behind our birth or the birth of billions of people living in the world?

To conclude I will repeat my point from where I began that this is our culture where temples with carved erotic sculptures exist, union of Ling and Yoni is considered holy and where Raaslilla between a deity with many females is considered pleasurable and where drinking alcoholic drinks on certain festivals is part of our religious culture.

We should realize that India is a secular and democratic country where people belonging to different religious groups and beliefs live together. We cannot force our beliefs on others. Every individual of this nation has the right to live her or his life according to their wishes. If inhuman activities like moral policing are not stopped immediately then a day is not far when this beautiful nation of ours will be ruled by a religious group who will snatch away our freedom.

Remember it’s our life, our culture and we should be vigilant enough to preserve our freedoms.