By Ram Puniyani
This Valentine day this year is also threatened by the threat of acts of intolerance, violence by the ‘Moral Police’ of Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shri Ram Sene and ABVP etc. Violence including the attacks on shops selling Valentine and other mementoes has been reported too often. On the eve of the Valentine day and on the day itself one is watching in utter disgust the action of this moral police in vandalizing the events of the day. Valentine day has come to be synonymous with the exchange of messages of love all over the world. To keep company with ‘our’ own moral police similar groups in Saudi Arabia, and Dukhtarane millat types are also on the rampage. Many functions planned for this day have regularly been cancelled and many others just do not dare to plan any function in the light of experience of vandalism of previous years.
The ground on which these moral police operate holds no water. It is being said that such an open expression of love is ‘un-Indian’, this celebration is not in keeping with Indian culture, multinationals are promoting ‘nude revolution’ etc. Real reasons for this intolerant behavior have to be looked for in their overall agenda to curtail liberalism, pluralism and to constrain the democratic ethos of the country.
The circumstance under which this day came to become a memorable one, are very interesting and have a deep message. Valentine Day has an ancient legacy. It seems that the early Christian Church had at least two saints bearing this name. As per one story Roman emperor Claudius II forbade young men to marry in the year 200’s A.D., as he had strong military ambitions and he thought that single men made better soldiers (As ‘our own’ RSS believes that single men make better Pracharaks (Propagators) for Hindu Rashtra, and accordingly one can not be a high level RSS pracharak if one not a ‘bachelor boy’). A priest by the name Valentine protested and disobeyed the orders of the King by solemnizing the marriage of young couple’s. According to another legend, Valentine was an early Christian who was very affectionate to young children. He refused to worship Roman Gods and on that count was imprisoned. Children missed his affection and love and tossed the notes containing love messages across the prison bars. According to many stories he was executed on 14th February. This day in due course came to be celebrated in his memory, as a tribute to his courage in defying the inhuman orders of the ruling kings and people started sending greetings and messages of love to their loved ones’. The origin of the customs is slightly shrouded due to its being very ancient. Also these customs started taking local hue in different countries wherever this day began to be celebrated.
So why is the Hindutva brigade opposed to Valentine day, which is symbolic of love? Is it because the multinationals are involved in the card trade? We do remember the enthusiasm of Shiv Sena-BJP combine few years ago to dump the Enron in the Arabian sea as an electoral promise, but after coming to power they not only ratified the same but approved the further stage of the project as well! The NDA rule has seen the BJP leading the pack to bow to the multinationals, more than others. So aversion to multinational corporations is not the real reason. Is it because this day smacks of immorality and our ‘moral brigade’ cannot tolerate this exchange of symbols of love, which is obnoxious according to them? We do recall here that one of their ilk; B.L. Sharma had termed the rape of nuns as an act of Patriotism! So what are these scales of morality? As far the event being an un-Indian one, let’s just give a thought to the process of evolution of the customs, traditions and culture. With the world being reduced to a global village there is a percolation of different festivals and events across the globe. We have seen that even in Indian context in medieval times there was a thick intermingling of cultures and people of the society imbibed the one’s coming from different parts of the continent. People belonging to different religions overcame the boundaries to celebrate each other’s festivals and customs. The average people of the society, those who do not have vested interests celebrate diversity and enjoy it thoroughly. Muslims participating in Holi, Hindus participating in Tazia processions are some very few examples from the vast cultural interaction, which was the norm of the times, before the rise and institutionalization of communal politics.
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