Kochi's Kiss of Love

It all started with the Downtown event in Kozhikode, when a group of hotheads smashed up the Downtown café alleging that the café offered a venue for lovers to indulge in "immoral activities." It was an act of moral policing and vandalism combined. No prizes for guessing the perpetrators - the Congress owned TV channel which aired a couple merrily indulging in DFK (Deep French Kiss) in the car parking of the café, and the BJP affiliated Yuva Morcha happily taking it up and smashing up the café to smithereens. When it comes to fishing in troubled waters, political parties of the same feather tend to aid one another.

Meanwhile, as a protest against moral policing, a group of "free thinkers" decided to host "Kiss of Love" on November 2, 2014 - when couples were encouraged to come out to the Marine Drive grounds at Kochi and kiss one another in public.

At the stated time, the sprawling Kochi Marine Drive grounds, the nearby roads and walkways were teeming with:
- Desperadoes expecting to participate in a kiss fest. The well-intained stayed off, as they knew it was a BYOP (Bring-Your-Own-Partner) event.
- Perverts hoping to see people kissing.
- Goondas of all hues, ready in battle formation, proudly sporting their flags (and fangs.)
- members of political parties and/or their affiliates, all tongues blaring, shouting slogans and marching forth
- Members of religious and "social" groups, giving established political parties a march for their lungpower (literally). Obviously, minding their own business is something that religious fundamentalists and politicians cannot conceive of.
- The police
- A few actual protesters, about 50-odd in number to be precise.

An hour before the D-Day of 5 PM, the police took pre-emptive action and arrested all the 50-odd protesters who had gathered at the nearby Law College.

The world looks on as goons who threaten to beat up people for doing something perfectly legal are allowed to do their thing and go away scot free, head held high, whereas those who expressed their intention to kiss each others are arrested and hauled away as criminals.

Here's the picture worth a thousand words, featuring Rahul Pasupalan, the "ringleader" of the "Free Thinkers" and his bikini model wife Resmi Nair

Image Source: http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/just-in/kiss-of-love-supporters-arrested-by-police.html


Many people, while supporting the protester's basic stand against moral policing finds fault with the method of protest: kissing in public, stating that there are better methods to protest. Such people fail to comprehend a far bigger underlying issue than moral policing - the issue of freedom and liberty. Specific to this case, the choice of means of protest lies with the protester, not with anyone else. Expecting protesters to adhere to your values and methods in protesting is, by definition, a fascistic and totalitarian approach.

Anyway, here are the key takeaways from the (non) event:

• The Shiv Sena and the Sunni Youth Front were on the same side today. For all their religion-based rhetoric, what religious hardliners and fundamentalists basically want is to dictate how others should live their lives. That is the common thread running across self-appointed messiahs of all dimensions. Meanwhile, the liberals cutting across religious lines found themselves on the other side. We haven't seen the last of this, and I feel such a polarization is not necessary a bad thing for it exposes the fanatics cutting across religious lines for what they are. 
• In a sense Kochi became the launch pad of the new post-Congress socio-political paradigm that will crystallize in the days to come - the "conservatives" who strive to uphold the so-called "traditional" values and who want to impose their views on others, versus the "liberals" who value personal freedom and liberty. 
  
• In a democracy, strikes and struggles are meant to create opinion rather than direct on the spot result, and in this context, the ripples that this movement created itself is its victory - the event was covered by news corporations ranging from NDTV to Al Jazeera, it has gone viral in the social media, and similar "Kiss of Love" are already happening in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and other places.
• This event could just be the trigger required for a wider social change. A good number of people would view this episode as a cheap attempt to popularize an immoral and sinful Western culture into the mainstream. Without going into the issue of morality and righteousness of lovers kissing one another, or even having a lover in the first place, and whether such a culture would damn its adherents and supporters to the lowest pit of hell, this event has brought to spotlight the much wider issue of individual liberty and freedom. In a free society, individuals have the right to their "private space" as long as they do not do anything illegal and by doing so they do not violate the private space of others. The wider society has no business to dictate to individuals how to dress, walk, sleep, eat, shave, or conduct themselves. It is the individual's choice to follow religious or societial dictates or repudiate them in favour of something else. That is what freedom is all about.
• If nothing else, this event has increased the awareness on Article 21 (2)- Right of Privacy - guaranteed by the constitution of India. Those who are not aware of their rights, rarely get to enjoy them.

In the meantime, in these parts of the globe, pissing in public is okay … kissing in public is a crime.