Karnataka's problem with Pubs

I read in the news today about yet another incident where a mob invaded a pub in Karnataka. The news channels immediately cut to women in short skirts hiding their faces as they ran outside trying to shield themselves from the cameras as the media had another field day.It was a scene reminiscent of a raid at a prostitution ring. Moral policing is one of the most dangerous and infuriating trends that has started in this country.

It imposes the will of backward conservative people on the young and progressive. Most people who frequent pubs in a city like Bangalore, for instance, are young professionals who work long hours and like to unwind by spending their money on a few drinks in the company of their friends. The last thing they need is to confront a group of cowardly hooligans assaulting them. The fact that those female patrons of the establishment have to run out with their faces covered shows what a painful and humiliating experience it must be.

Imposing one's political or social views on another by force is sacrilege. That kind of behavior should not be welcome in any democracy as it is fascist and deplorable. The conservatives, in this case, argue that pubs and bars of these kinds are against Indian culture. But, the issue is not Indian culture itself; it has more to do with the role of women in Indian culture. In Vedic times, women were given much power and they were free to express their artistic, sexual and political right. Sometime between then and now, Indian culture became more and more repressive (probably due to the Islamic conquests and then the puritanical British Raj). So the current anti-fun conservatives are defenders of the staunch "puritanical/sharia with a little curry sauce" Indian culture that exists today.

In the last 20 years, women have been liberated in this country. They now work more than ever before, are well educated, hold high offices in government and business and believe that if a woman is raped, its not because of the clothes she wears. These modern women also work as hard as their male counterparts and similarly like to unwind at the local pub after a hard day. As long as the bars were frequented by men (for decades in Beer Bars in Mumbai ), no one had a problem. As soon as women started coming into the equation, the moral police started their insufferable campaign against pubs.

We must not let these people get away with infringing upon our rights as free citizens of India. We have opinions and morals just like they do. Our side is liberal, progressive and vigorous, whereas theirs is regressive, hateful and antiquated. We will eventually win because those who do not change with the times are eventually sidelined.