Underwear makes the moral police see red (or is it saffron?)

Apparently, women's lingerie is "obscene" in Madhya Pradesh!

Shopkeepers in Bhopal cannot display mannequins wearing women's underwear. Why, you may ask! The answer is because the Sanskriti Bachao Manch deems them to be obscene. You may then ask, who the f*** are they to decide on what is and is not obscene. There you have me flummoxed! I have absolutely no clue why they should get away with these decrees except that they seem to have the support of the state's BJP Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The side-effect of any kind of ban in India is the threat of violence and hooliganism. Most people comply with the dictats of such groups because they know the police would not come to their rescue when the hooligans attack. The police would not take any steps because these hooligans are backed by powerful politicians including the Chief Ministers.

In the midst of rising food prices, malnutrition, illiteracy and sundry other problems, why would politicians and their satellites think that anyone would care for such ridiculous moral policing? We need to seriously ponder over this question. Is there really a vote bank that gets all riled up about women's underwear? If so, who are these people? If there is no vote bank, then we need to ask what are the politicians getting out of such gestures? Is it a tactic to throw sand in the eyes of the voters to keep them occupied with inconsequential issues?

Unless, we look at these questions with a clear eye and expose this nexus, there is no hope for us.