THE MANGALORE SHAME

The nation is shocked by the recent attacks on women in a pub in Mangalore by the Sri Ram Sene activists who portray themselves as custodians of our "great Indian culture and traditions." In the much glorified democratic country of ours, the activities of religious outfits serve to tarnish our image on the global map. Acts of vandalism, attacking people in the name of religion, culture and values, intimidating people can not be tolerated in any civilized society. On one hand, such organizations say that women are the incarnation of Goddess Durga and hence must be respected and on the other hand, they attack women, misbehave with them and molest them without even thinking once! Where do their traditions and ethos vanish then? Into thin air, i believe. Outfits which carry out such activities are damaging our social fabric on the pretext of purifying our society. I fully agree with the Home Minister when he says that no organization can become self-styled police force. We, in this country, have our freedom of choice and we need not be dictated by others as to what we should do, how we should do, where we should go and with whom we should go. Rather than creating another headache for the administration, these outfits which claim to be patriotic zealots should contribute positively to the development of our country which is plagued by innumerable issues. We already have enough external threats and we can ill-afford to channelise our energy in combating extremism from various quarters, whether external or internal. These organizations are a threat to our society. The people of our country, especially the youth must take a call and demand for banning such organizations. These incidents evoke intense public outrage and yet there hasn't been any serious action taken against organizations that spearhead such shameful acts. We need to prevail upon the government bodies to take concrete measures to check such incidents recurring in future.