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Moral policing in Tamil Nadu

A rash of recent events has exposed an ugly vein of intolerance, chauvinism, and sexism running through a section of Tamil Nadu's police, media, and polity. Pictures published in two newspapers of a private party in a five star hotel become the basis for the Chennai city police ordering the suspension of its licence, arresting two of its managerial employees, and even threatening to take those surreptitiously photographed into custody. A popular actress who speaks her mind about matters of sexuality is coerced into apologising, thanks to an orgy of politically backed protests, which include effigy burning and shrill cries for her arrest and banishment from the State for allegedly "denigrating Tamil women." In an engineering college in Chennai's suburbs, a student is pulled up for wearing a dark shirt in violation of the institution's `code' that requires male students to wear only light-coloured shirts! The incident happens a couple of months after the Vice-Chancellor of Anna University `bans' the wearing of jeans, T-shirts, and sleeveless tops in 231 engineering colleges across the State to make students dress "in a way that befits our culture." Something of a trend can be discerned in these disparate happenings. The culture cops of Tamil Nadu are menacing young people's rights, including freedom of expression; and also targeting girls and women in a sanctimonious, sexist way, as several women's organisations have pointed out.

Tamil Nadu has a tradition of being socially and politically progressive, of having a culture of tolerance and respect for diversity. It is a sad commentary that an actress' personal opinion on pre-marital sex has been viciously misrepresented, and blown out of all proportion, as an attack on Tamil womanhood by political parties keen on playing the chauvinism card. Likewise, it was a gross over-reaction for the Chennai police to order the temporary revocation of the hotel's licence because a couple of Tamil newspapers published photographs of a fashion show held within its premises. The photographs of young men and women drinking and couples kissing were published to reveal the `immoral' goings-on at the party. The odd thing was that no one in these pictures was "scantily clad" (as alleged by the police) but the affair exposed the hypocrisy of a tabloid and tabloidising section of the press that regularly publishes `scantily clad' and suggestive pin-ups of film actresses as a circulation booster. As for dress codes, university and college campuses in developed countries have "student rights officers," and it is well recognised that it is a serious transgression for college teachers and administrators so much as to comment on such personal matters as dress, demeanour, lifestyle, ethnicity, and the social background of students. Morality is a contentious and complex subject. Laws and rules, such as the prohibition on serving alcoholic drinks to minors, must of course be strictly enforced. But morality, ethics, and core values can be inculcated only through education, which must begin at home, and friendly persuasion — not by backward-looking diktats and sanctions from an obscurantist, intolerant, and sexist moral police.

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