Moral Policing

"God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis verse 26

"God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis verse 27

This is how Bible says god made man. At the beginning god didn't put forth much laws of do and don't. Then came the Ten commandments. Ten "Thy Shall nots" which man was supposed to live by. Then once the civilization set in, more laws came. The gray areas were fast being separated into black or white. In the modern society, there is a system of laws in the country which needs to be followed by the citizens. How applicable those laws are and to whom is an entirely different discussion which I do not wish to delve into at this time.

So In India, we have a set of written laws and we have a police department who sees to it that the laws are enforced and any breaking of the laws are appropriately handled. Till then it was alright. In these recent times, there has been a peculiar kind of homo sapiens who deem themselves the protectors of moral laws. They are self appointed and they work on an unwritten code which basically says anything they don't like is immoral. It can be the violence against people celebrating Valentine's Day or the attack against girls in a pub or in the most recent event, slapping an MLA who was taking his oath in Hindi.

These are a set of people who are hell bent on telling us how to live our lives. For them celebrating Valentines Day is westernization. Wearing western clothes is against Indian culture. What Indian Culture are we talking about here? India is the land of Kamasutra and Khajuraho. In the land which taught the world secrets of sex, talking openly about sex is against its culture. While it's ok to depict various sex positions in a temple, an actress wearing a short skirt is against the moral code. Do you see a disconnect here?

From the moral to the regional. The self appointed defender of Marathi Rights Mr.Raj Thackerey and his company of goons who calls themselves the MNS stopped a politician from taking his oath in Hindi in the Maharasthra assembly. Who the politician was and what his background is is not relevant to the discussion here. The constitution clearly states that any politician may take his oath in Hindi, English or the regional language. Last time I checked, Maharashtra was still a part of India and Indian constitution still applies there. Then what law gives these goons the power to stop a constitutional act? The latest news is that 4 MLAs who manhandled the said politician have been suspended for 4 years from the assembly. While I appreciate the quick action taken, the question remains as to how could you let such an incident take place in a meeting of so called "representatives of the public". Whether criminal charges would be filed against them and if any action would be taken on that front remains to be seen.

So look how we have progressed. In the garden of Eden, there was just one rule. Don't eat the forbidden fruit. Now we have laws spanning every human activity. Over that we have people telling us how to live our lives. We have the Moral police, Fashion Police and Censor Police over and above our regular police. If we don't nip this in the bud, it won't be long before we wouldn't have a choice but to live our lives as others dictate it.