Bengaluru: The Kiss of Love (KOL) protest against moral policing have new organizers after its initial leader 23year-old Rachita Taneja backed out over alleged death threats from the moral police brigade.
The new organizers are going ahead with their protest on Sunday evening in front of Town Hall. The police had denied them permission, citing obscenity, but they are going ahead.
A protest organizer speaking to a Bangalore daily, said that : “If someone chooses to show their solidarity with us by kissing, we will not stop them. How can anyone infringe upon someone’s right of expression? Our thinking is liberal-democratic; if only Jawaharlal Nehru or Rabindranath Tagore had been alive today, they too would have supported us unanimously.”
The organisers have ques tioned why they are not being allowed to hold their protests. “Democracy is all about the people in it. If the LGBT community was permitted their Gay Pride parade, why not us? It’s very unfortunate that we have not been given permission despite assuring the city police that our event will be a peaceful protest. However, we are firm about our plans to hold the event anyway,” said the protestor identified by his pseudonym, Vijayan, whose group has taken over organizing the controversial Kiss of Love protest in Bengaluru.
They seem to have a plan. “We have been using social media intensely to mobilise more and more support for our cause. We would like to reiterate that this is not a kissing contest, and will mainly declare what we have to using placards and banners,” said the event organizer.
The organizers are expecting a lot of supporters to join them in their protest. The event is on facebook, and it shows nearly 3,000 invitees, of which 500-odd people have confirmed as ‘attending’.”
The updated invite on FB says “Anybody who feels connected to the cause are (sic) welcome to join us. It’s up to the participants whether they should kiss or not. We don’t dictate whether the participants should kiss or should not.It’s left to the free choice and mutual consent of the participants”.
The new organisers on Wednesday have re-approached city police commissioner MN Reddi, additional commissioner of police (law and order) Alok Kumar, and deputy commissioner of police (Central) Sandeep Patil, requesting them to reconsider their decision after they were denied permission three days ago. But the police seem firm on their ‘no’.
Reddi told Bangalore Mirror in Bengaluru, “As of Thursday, I have not been approached by the organisers of the event. They had applied for permission, and were denied it. We are aware they are planning to go ahead with the protests anyway, and we will be present at the event. Whatever action is required to maintain law and order, depending on the necessity and circumstance, will be initiated.”
When asked about the protesters’ adamant approach of planning to go ahead with the protests despite the police not giving them permission, Vijayan said, “Our protest is antifascist in nature. We are unable to understand how some people can oppose our intention to fight moral policing. In case any untoward incident takes place, we have informed the police that a single person cannot shoulder the responsibility. In the worst case, it’s okay even if we get arrested.”
