Panty-Bombers Put Pub-Bombers in Prison for Valentine’s Day!

The Power of Digital
Panty-Bombers Put Pub-Bombers in Prison for Valentine’s Day!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49641698651&ref=mf
http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/
India has just experienced the power of Digital!
Exactly three weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon, Pramod Muthalik and his goons beat up women in a pub having a beer over lunch in Mangalore, in south India. This self-styled leader of the right-wing Hindu Sri Ram Sene (SRS) felt women ought not to go to pubs because it was against “Indian culture”, whatever that means. Muthalik also threatened to go round Mangalore on Valentine’s Day, with Hindu priests and video cameramen in tow, and forcibly marry off unmarried couples celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Three weeks later Muthalik and his ilk are being forced to sit out the day in jail today (Feb 14) so that women in Mangalore can flood the pubs to celebrate their right to love!

Behind that arrest is the story of the power of digital -- how social networking sites like Facebook , word of mouth, print and television have channeled horror, shock and anger at what happened in Mangalore into an imaginative campaign that shamed a reluctant government to act.

And it was all because of the power of click! “Most women in this country have enough curbs on their lives without a whole new franchise cashing in with their bully-boy tactics. Be imaginative, have fun and fight back!” was the message that clicked out and created a novel Gandhian, non-violent protest!
Nisha Susan, a Delhi-based media professional originally from Bangalore, clicked it off on Feb 5. She launched a “Pink Chaddi Campaign” or “Pinky Panty Campaign” of the “Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women” on Facebook. Chaddi is the Indian word for panty. It is also slang in India for right-wing hardliners.

“After the attack on the pub in Mangalore, I felt I had two options. One was to stay quiet and accept everything. The other was to meet these people head-on and make fun of them. So, I started this group on Facebook. The chaddi is also slang for right-wing hardliners and the saffron (right-wing) agenda, while pink stands for things that are frivolous. The combination is offensive.’’

The instructions to the sisterhood were—look in your closet for pink panties or buy them cheap, dirt cheap. Those who could not mail them were asked to drop their packages at “Chaddi Collection Points”. Men were also invited to join in.
The print and television media picked up the story of the “panty-bombers vs the pub bombers” five days later, on February 10. Other social networking sites picked it up. Bloggers and media columnists jumped in and the word chaddi, normally an unmentionable in conservative Indian society, acquired acceptance as the campaign became the buzz of the country.

By 5 pm on Feb 10, over 5,000 had signed up for the campaign on Facebook. By 8 pm, the number had crossed 8,000, by 11 pm it was 11,000 and by Friday night it had crossed 33,000. By Valentine’s Day morning the number was 38,150 and still climbing!

“The content and the form of the movement enthused me. It’ll make a point in a cheeky way. This is a way of taking back the space the guardians of morality are trying to take from us. This movement isn’t just an activist movement, it’s by ordinary women who want to speak up and fight back,” one woman told the Main Stream Media.
Reena Wadhwa, an interior designer in Mumbai, told media she bought a pack of three panties of different shades of pink. Women who do not visit pubs or drink wrote in to say they supported the cause. “It’s absurd how women were harassed in Mangalore. I wanted to take a more proactive stance instead of just being defensive and so I’ve joined the campaign,” said Bishakha Datta, a documentary film-maker.

Manasi Subramanium, a Chennai-based publishing editor and campaign supporter, felt the movement was a contemporary interpretation of old feminist ideas. “This is an old feminist response, akin to bra-burning. I believe in the statement this group is trying to make and I am not at all surprised by the response,” she said.
Women were also exhorted to join the Pub Bharo Andolan (Fill the Pubs Movement on Valentine’s Day). “Join Us on February 14, Valentine’s Day, the day when Indian women’s virginity and honour will self-destruct unless they marry. Walk to the nearest pub and buy a drink. Raise a toast to the SRS.”

What’s interesting is that the Chief Minister of Muthalik’s state, B.S. Yeddyurappa, while disapproving of the violence said he too was against what he called “pub culture” and vowed to stamp it out. His daughter, who runs a BPO in Bangalore, openly opposed him, affirming a woman’s right to visit a pub. He would not relent.

Soon, the Chief Minister of a north Indian state, this time from the centrist Congress Party headed by Ms Sonia Gandhi, also expressed himself against “pub culture”. Others jumped on the bandwagon. Groups of Muthalik’s followers began patrolling college campuses in Mangalore to ensure students respected the gender divide. Others made similar threats in other cities. With weeks to go before national elections, India seemed headed for a clash of cultures, just the sort that the right-wingers desperately need to get back into power.

Two weeks after the pub attack, a Hindu girl talking to a Muslim boy was pulled off a bus in Mangalore along with the youth. Both were thrashed and the girl was made to go down on her knees and promise to behave like a “good Hindu girl” and not go with Muslim boys. Then this week, another Hindu girl seen talking to a Muslim boy was taken to a police station and slapped for jumping the communal divide. Humiliated, she went home and hanged herself.

But last night, exactly three weeks after the pub attack, Mr Yeddyuurappa was forced to arrest Muthalik and his goons and put them behind bars for24 hours so that young couples are able to celebrate their love in peace today.

Hurrah for the new digital media!