Activists of local units of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal harassed the youths roaming in the parks and other public places and forced them to leave the area on Valentine’s Day. Several couples were forced to flee from the park as activists raised slogans against the celebrations and threatened them with severe consequences.
“like every year, this year too we visited parks and spread awareness among youths. After catching the couples, we asked for their parents’ contact number and threatened them to tell the matter to their parents. The new way of moral policing has helped us register our protest against western culture in a violence-free manner,” said Surendra Pathak, an activist of VHP.
Over 200 police personnel were deployed at different parts of the city, especially along the Jubilee Park where people gathered in large numbers.
Activists from the VHP and Bajrang Dal reached Jubilee Park to drive out couples. The protest on Valentine’s Day started as an initiative to make public places more appropriate for families and friends.
“We want parks to be more available for family and not lovers involved in indecent behaviour,” said Arun Kumar Singh, president, VHP, Jamshedpur.
Singh also said that this is just a start and would run this campaign once in every month in areas like Jubilee Park, Hudco in Telco and Sir Dorabji Tata Park. The police personnel were deployed at all major parks, amusement parks, theatres, bus stands, pubs and restaurants. A large number of policemen in plainclothes were deployed in the city. Night patrolling was enhanced and police forces were deployed at all sensitive locations, said an officer.
Jubilee Park and Dorabji Park, located in the heart of the city are the two prominent hang outs for the couples of the Steel City and are vulnerable too, when it comes to the atrocities by the moral brigade.
When contacted, a district leader of Bajrang Dal said: “We oppose Valentine’s Day because the concept has come from the west and has nothing to do with our culture.”