India's Valentine Day Brouhaha

The Saint Valentine's Day brouhaha has become a yearly phenomenon. Lovers in India's various urban/semi-urban pockets, usually left alone on most other days, suddenly become targets.

In rural India on the other hand, falling in love is looked down upon. Love affairs across class/caste/religion boundaries, are considered a crime of the highest order, sometimes an excuse for murder. Despite all the hype of a new India arriving onto the modern world, even deemed a new superpower, the real India is anything but.

Vast swathes of rural India and significant sections of urban India are still very much a feudal society. Caste distinctions run deep, deeper than those of class or religion. From the blatantly open casteism in states like Bihar to the very subtle inferences in highly educated, upper middle class, upper castes, it exists everywhere. The newly assertive lower castes have their own versions. This phenomenon transcents all religions in India.

Valentine's day appeals to a very particular section of Indian society, the rising middle class and existing upper classes. These are the elite of Indian society brought up on the fodder of western norms and education.

For them Valentine's day represents,

• Freedom from restrictive social norms of the past.
• A fullfillment of the aspiration to be like the west.
• The growing liberalism in society.
• The growing independance of women.
• India moving to be a developed country.

But it offends many at various levels from mild to extreme.

• As a corrupting influence of westernization.
• As a creeping influence of Christianity.
• For frustrated males who lack female companionship.
• For frustrated males who are unlikely to form healthy relationships with females.
• As a threat to the world view that existed before Valentine's day became popular.
• As a cynical excuse to gain political mileage as an end in itself.

In conclusion, neither views are right or wrong. All it shows is

1. India is not a westernized, highly developed, liberal country. It has some pockets which appear to be so.
2. All sections of society are not ready for such rapid change in their existing world views.
3. A feudal-democracy mixed political power structure will use such conflicts for their political goals.