[But Romeo, a one-woman man to the tragic end, is really not the name that should be used to describe such low life forms. Why name the wolf-calling, bottom-pinching cowards who stalk the streets after a personality from literature celebrated the world over as the archetypal lover? Simple. This is a crackdown on the very idea of love. Is the UP government against love itself? The completely inappropriate choice of Romeo points to a misogyny embedded deep in India’s heart, like Tybalt’s blade in Mercutio’s breast: a woman is to be controlled by a man. There is another reason. Perhaps a cliché, turned, is required here: Heaven hath no rage, hell no fury than a man scorned.]
I/II. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/the-utterly-inappropriate-anti-romeo-squad-label-points-to-misogyny-embedded-deep-in-indias-heart/ The utterly inappropriate ‘anti-Romeo’ squad label points to misogyny embedded deep in India’s heart April 13, 2017, 2:00 AM IST Suneel Sinha in TOI Edit Page What’s in a name? In this case, everything. Poor Romeo. He lived for love and died for it. In trying, unsuccessfully, in Act 3, Scene 1 to prevent Tybalt from putting a rapier through Mercutio, he essentially fought the idea of an honour killing. Now, chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s police are after Shakespeare’s protagonist. They sully his name, say he harasses India’s women on the streets, chases them, literally, makes rude gestures and sick noises an ill cat wouldn’t, touches them … it is a long list of crimes attributed to the Montague scion. But Romeo, a one-woman man to the tragic end, is really not the name that should be used to describe such low life forms. Why name the wolf-calling, bottom-pinching cowards who stalk the streets after a personality from literature celebrated the world over as the archetypal lover? Simple. This is a crackdown on the very idea of love. Is the UP government against love itself? The completely inappropriate choice of Romeo points to a misogyny embedded deep in India’s heart, like Tybalt’s blade in Mercutio’s breast: a woman is to be controlled by a man. There is another reason. Perhaps a cliché, turned, is required here: Heaven hath no rage, hell no fury than a man scorned. An ignorant view of the world of English literature, or complete ignorance of it, need not necessarily detract from the chief minister’s aim for the purpose is noble: to save women from harassment by men who could be, if the authorities agreed, be named after other characters from the pages of villainy. The history of literature is a dangerous place, for more reason than one, and the bad guys are legion. If English literature must be blamed for a form of love that finds no expression in the minds that make up this government – as it is blamed for many other perceived ills in Indian society – we could call them Lotharios, after the shameless seducer of women from a story within ‘Don Quixote’ – admittedly not English literature but a fine novel anyway. Or Casanova, that adventurer and rake no woman could resist. Or the Marquis de Sade, from whose depravities we derive the word “sadist”. But even these names, some fictional, some real, and the notoriety associated with them, wouldn’t serve the purpose. The decision to revive the term “Anti-Romeo Squad” for policemen trying to prevent sexual harassment belongs to an idiot. What we don’t know is why chief minister Yogi Adityanath has granted his assent. There must be plenty of well-read leaders in BJP who understand that one tragedy leads to another. Policemen, and policewomen, with new orders are seeking to drag India back to a mediaeval past by destroying all that the country’s women have gained over the past 100 years. They are doing so by completely overstepping their brief to help women, and not to decide whether it is right for them to be out with a boy in the first place. Which is what is happening. This newspaper reported an interview with a policeman on an “anti-Romeo squad” who basically said a boy must talk to the girl’s parents before talking to her; that a girl and boy can’t be friends. And how do they recognise “Romeos”? The eyes have it, they said. This is very heavy conspiratorial stuff. And it isn’t happening just here. There are reports out of the US of the alt right trying to appropriate Jane Austen by highlighting that her world was white and Anglo-Saxon. It was. But the insidiousness and illiberalism of the suggestion would infuriate any self-respecting Austenite. Uttar Pradesh proves Shakespeare was right: Romeo was fortune’s fool, and will be again. Make no mistake. A new tragedy is being written. II. http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/yogi-adityanaths-hindu-yuva-vahini-barges-into-couples-room-couple-charged-with-/298520 Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini Barges Into Couple's Room, Couple Charged With 'Obscenity' While the woman was released after warning, the man, who is a resident of Muzaffarnagar, was booked on charges of obscenity, they said. OUTLOOK WEB BUREAU [Photo] COURTESY: TWITTER/ANI Hindu Yuva Vahini, a right wing youth organisation founded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has courted controversy yet again when members of the group allegedly barged into a house in Meerut and draggedout a couple, accusing them of 'love jihad'. Snipped -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
