: Praveen Elayi, who was once harassed by policemen for spending time with his lover, Ponnu, at Durbar hall Ground, could not resist posting his picture with her on Facebook as the campaign Kiss of Love gathered momentum.
K.M. Harish, an IT professional, posted a picture of him hugging and kissing his wife, Deepa Menon, in support of the campaign while V. Aravind, a web journalist, posted a borrowed image of a couple kissing to pledge his support for the campaign as he could not share the image of him kissing his wife, a government official.
The trio are among the scores of online supporters of the campaign, who could not make it to Kochi on the day to kiss against what they call authoritarianism and moral policing. Several women, including mothers, shared their moments of love with their dear ones online to be with the youth who went on to stage their protest at Kochi.
“When police harassed us, we could not even raise our voice as we were students at that time. We were harassed for sitting together at a public place. Youngsters are often ill-treated in public places in Kochi. The approach of people and authorities on these issues should change,” said Mr. Elayi.
The young journalist and his wife, now the proud parents of twins, wanted to be at Marine Drive on Sunday to mark their protest. However, “taking the two kids to a crowded place is not an easy job and hence dropped the idea of going there and opted for sharing our picture online,” he said.
Mr. Harish could not make it to Kochi on Sunday as a prior engagement held him back in Bangalore. Yet, he pledged support for the programme by going online.
“It’s high time that the Kerala society changes its approach to public display of love. Expressing love to your dear ones need not be construed as a sexual act,” he said.
“My posting of the image is my way of registering protest against the highhanded acts of fringe elements. The otherwise opposing Hindu and Muslim outfits held hands to fight the movement. They also proved that they shared the same social agenda, which was anti-women in content and approach,” he said.
