‘Love Without Fear’, an event asserting women’s autonomy inside and outside university campuses, was held at Delhi University’s Faculty of Arts on Monday.
Organised by the All India Students’ Association (AISA), the event attempted to challenge various hurdles that a woman faces in society on a regular basis.
‘Anti-Romeo squad’
“We are here to celebrate the right to love and the right to make choices freely. We strongly reject institutionalised surveillance over a woman that manifests itself in different forms — be it curfew timings at girls’ hostels or the ridiculous ‘anti-Romeo squad’ recently called for by BJP national president Amit Shah,” said Kawalpreet Kaur, the president of AISA’s DU unit.
The event, which took place amid heavy police presence and barricading, began with a speech by DU Professor Apoorvanand.
Addressing the crowd, he said: “These days, one has to speak of love inside barricades. One has to understand that love knows no boundaries and is known to break the boundaries of caste and patriarchy.”
Taking a dig at the anti-Romeo squads, which Mr. Shah recently declared ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Prof. Apoorvanand added: “Our culture has its roots in love. Anyone who has to protect Indian culture should not propose the idea of anti-Romeo squads. Instead, they should speak about freedom of men and women to love.”
His speech was followed by other speeches, street plays, songs and poetry recitals. The event saw participation by nearly 400 people comprising students, activists and academics.
Moral policing
Speaking about the importance of free association between two individuals and rejecting caste, religion and gender barriers, activist Aditya Vaibhav said: “Two kinds of people are seen on the Valentine’s Day these days. The first are the kind who are out to celebrate love, while the second are those who come out to censure it. This programme is a reminder to the second category, which includes groups like the Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad, that we do not accept their moral policing.”
DU student Jatin Verma, who was present at the event, said: “Many groups end up targeting youngsters on Valentine’s Day in different parts of the country in their declared effort to conserve ‘values’ and ‘culture’, but such actions are meaningless. There was a time when sati was considered part of Hindu culture, but got abolished later. So we have to keep fighting against discriminatory practices that live on under the pretext of culture but actually humiliate women.”
Some in the crowd were also willing to point out double standards that prevail against women in society.
Citing an example, Shreya Mishra, a DU student DU, said: “It is ironic that the society which deems a woman mature enough to elect her representative at the age of 18 considers her incapable of taking care of herself once it gets dark in the evening.”
