Halt Holiganism in Mangalore

Cultural policing is common in certain parts of the country. After the people’s recognition of Shiv Sena with political mandate there are several groups trying to ape its model. Luckily most of these groups were rejected by people and lost steam in due course. Sri, Rama Sene (SRS) a fringe group in Mangalore attacked a pub where girls and boys were dancing. SRS founder Pramod Mutalik told that there is no need to raise a hue and cry about the Mangalore pub attack on women on Saturday. “Women were being misused and misguided. We oppose this. Women have to be protected as the law has failed. Parents are worried about their wards going astray in materialistic pursuits. We are the custodians of Indian culture, he said.

Times of India (27.1.2009 p.6) reports “Mutalik is the national president of the right-wing political group, Rashtriya Hindu Sena. The SRS founded in late 2007 is its militant outfit. Mutalik is apologetic about inconvenience caused to the girls but thinks that the hue and cry is all to sully the image of the BJP government in Karnataka.

Times view “Organisations like the Sri Rama Sene are emboldened to act as they did in Mangalore because the cost-benefit equation works out very well for them. The benefit from such boorish moral policing is in the form of national publicity that lures fresh recruits to the ‘cause’. And the costs is possible arrest and a very short jail term. It’s important, therefore, to raise the costs. In this case, for instance, they could be charged under Section 153A that deals with offences against public tranquility and carries a sentence of up to three years. It must be used not just against the actual miscreants, but also office-bearers of the Sene. Rigorous prosecution leading to conviction should help persuade them to desist from such anti-social behaviour in future.”

MNS, SRS and likes should be completely crushed. The government needs to have spinal cord. Unfortunately none of those in the power corridors have will to act. All of them are staying to keep their position alive. If there was a stern action against the hooliganism in the past they may not ventured out again. Voting in such hooligans to power inspires other groups. Naturally they aspire to become prototypes of Shiv Sena and hope to grab the upper power in ten years or twenty five years. It is another matter that most of these groups fizzle out in the middle. There is no other way than to crush the self proclaimed moral police forces.