So if you're "decent" you don't get raped in Delhi? RSS man thinks so

Late last week, overwhelmed with a hunt for a political story, I went knocking on the RSS’s door. Barely a few days back, Sangh workers had attempted to smother a Kiss of Love campaign, which had sparked off in Kochi, against moral policing.

I spoke to a senior Sangh member of significant repute with a story in mind. We began chatting about the youth’s involvement in active politics, but I really wasn't prepared for what I was to hear next.

From youth mobilisation, the conversation, without warning, veered extreme eight. The said member had started to holler away about the youth’s vulgarity, nudity and the lack of Indian values in women.

We as journalists are taught never to lose our equanimity, no matter what the provocation. Having to swallow up the anger that was rapidly rising up my throat, I sat and listened to his sermon, feeling the urge to probe him further and document everything that he said. What ensued was a litany against all things progressive.

Me: If you speak of taking the youth along, sir. What according to you should be the primary agenda for the upcoming Delhi polls?

RSS man: To do away with the vulgarity that girls and some of the boys put on display.

Me: What do you mean?

RSS man: The youth have forgotten Indian values. It is important to remind them of what India stands for.

Me: Forgotten Indian values?

RSS man: Yes. They stage protests like Kiss of Love, dance naked on the streets, put vulgarity out for all to see and then complain that Delhi is the "Rape Capital".

Me: Why is it wrong for the youth to demand a dialling down of moral policing?

RSS man: This is required because girls have forgotten what it is to be docile and decent. If they want to be perceived as someone’s sister or wife or mother, they need to act accordingly. They can’t misbehave and then complain after they get into trouble. This is an attempt at getting rid of the "rape capital" tag.

Shaken and visibly stirred at this unabashed exhibition of misogyny, I went back with the realisation that this was an element that could not be discounted. And so, it was quietly and subtly embedded in a piece that otherwise heralded the effort that the Sangh was putting in for the polls.

I am well aware of what the Sangh’s ideology is emblematic of. Yet, it seems all the more disconcerting when you hear it in person. According to the RSS strongmen, in a country which derives its cultural heritage from the days of the Vedas, it only stands to reason that its women not give into vulgar behaviour that might espouse public display of affection.

The logic is simple enough – behave yourself and you won’t get raped.

When Franklin D Roosevelt voiced his opinion on conservatism, he made it aptly clear that while the conservative man may have two legs, it is that very conservatism that prevents him from walking forward. In the Sangh’s case, those legs have not walked beyond the Stone Age.