The hullabaloo over a hug in the Kolkata Metro is a reflection of who we have become
Just when we were warming up to the idea of hugplomacy, considering that an embrace is our primal and instinctive form of engagement with a fellow being, it is hurtful to see it being reduced to an offensive public behaviour in the unlikeliest of places. Kolkata, the city which has prided itself in being liberal and enlightened and which experienced the democratisation effects of mobility by getting a Metro in the 80s, has been accused of intolerance and moral policing, something that liberal intellectuals on their high chair liked to troll the rest of India with. Turns out a couple were holding each other casually in a Metro, probably to support each other from falling over in a crowded compartment than any amorous intention, but ended up upsetting the sensibilities of some elderly co-passengers. So much so that they abused and beat up the young couple. This triggered a wave of peaceful protests by young people of the city who emphasised that a hug was the commonest form of endearment and categorising it as obscene and as a sexual stereotype was not only revisionist but a subversion of human rights. A hug was not PDA but a gesture of sharing, comfort and inclusion, decidedly the most neutral human body language. Shockingly, in a show of medieval puritanism, some moral vanguards thrashed the protesters too.
This did not happen on Valentine’s Day and Kolkata certainly isn’t Hubli or Mangalore where the fringe extremists of Sri Ram Sena are known to have resisted the free mixing of young people as a cultural invasion. Most worryingly, the viral hawks of Kolkata are not allied to any discernible outfit but random strangers, some of whom were elderly, and, therefore, assumed to have grown up in the years of left liberalism and been swept by the 60s’ movement of youth awakening, the birth of many “isms” and concurrent hedonism. Generations of citizens have been used to lovers walking or meeting in the city’s parks and around lakes. The school systems have always fostered a healthy co-educational system and even the missionary-run boys’ and girls’ schools held weekend socials and dances for their teen students to expose them to healthy social practices and rid them of body consciousness. That is why this sharp descent into myopia spells the end of innocence and reeks of hypocrisy among citizenry that has crept in despite the promised “poriborton” agenda of Mamata Banerjee. In fact, ever since the beginning of the Trinamool regime, there have been instances of bigotry galore, the most famous being of the Park Street rape where the Chief Minister herself dismissed it as political conspiracy and some questioned the dress code and the presence of a girl in the city’s happening district beyond curfew hours. So while there has been a cosmetic makeover of Kolkata, the cobweb of aberrant feudal mindset has not been cleaned, and, in fact, been allowed to have a free run as Didi’s accommodation policy is wider than Noah’s Ark. Going by National Crime Records Bureau, Bengal is just behind Uttar Pradesh when it comes to overall crimes against women, topping in gang rapes and sex trafficking. Doesn’t that need policing and justiceIJ Acceptance of a casual and freer attitude and not a cultish hitback is the need of the hour. The bhadralok has certainly been emasculated by this round of hypocrisy.