More than 400 Delhi University (DU) students gathered on Monday to attend a public meeting, titled ‘Love Without Fear’, addressing the issue of attacks on women’s autonomy within and outside campuses.
The event was organised at the varsity’s Arts Faculty, amid heavy security and sloganeering, a day ahead of the Valentine’s Day. “The event was an attempt to create an understanding that one cannot be free to love, make choices or even be friends when such coveted institutions let us down at every instance,” Kawalpreet Kaur, a Delhi University (DU) student and President of the All India Students’Association (AISA) said.
“How can we call ourselves modern when heinous mass molestation incidents happen in a city like Bangalore, which is known to be liberal? How we assert our autonomy when inter-religious love is termed as ‘love jihad’, and identifying oneself as LGBT is criminalised and stated to be unnatural?” she said.
Kaur criticised Valentine’s Day attacks in the name of culture on young couples and said: “Every year, we see that Bajrang Dal activists, along with ABVP and RSS outfits, thrash young couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. With this event, we have challenged such moral policing and attacks on women’s autonomy and their freedom to choose their partners.”
“These days, one has to speak of love inside barricades. People have to understand that love knows no boundaries, whether of caste or patriarchy,” DU Professor Apoorvanand said at the event that was attended by several poets, writers, and professors.
Commenting on BJP’s Anti-Romeo squads to ‘protect girls in Uttar Pradesh’, Apoorvanand said, “Our culture has its roots in love. Anyone who wants to protect Indian culture should not propose the idea of Anti-Romeo squads but should speak for the freedom of men and women to love.”
“When one speaks of love, one has to speak of caste and patriarchy as well. Love can break the shackles of caste and patriarchy. That is why there are such attacks on love by BJP and RSS-like outfits,” Sapna Chamaria, a Rajdhani College student said.
Meanwhile, Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) announced to organise a ‘Love Parade’ to mark Valentine’s Day on Tuesday. A statement issued by NSUI said, “The right wing groups believe they can take away the freedom of the common man by imposing their diktats. They have been known for making bigoted statements, threatening those who choose to celebrate their love on this day,” NSUI said in a statement.
