Headlines
Valentine's Day: Hindu Mahasabha to be on prowl, youth undaunted
New Delhi, Feb 13
While youth in Delhi warm up
to celebrate love with red roses and colourful gifts on Valentine's Day
Feb 14, the Hindu Mahasabha Friday said their volunteers would have
couples spliced up if found in an act of "indecent display of love" in
public space.
With white roses in their hands, as many as 45
volunteers of the right-wing group would be on the prowl in parks, movie
theatres, restaurants and other public places across the city with
their target would be the couples expressing love for each other in
three words 'I Love You' or found locked in an embrace, defined as
"indecent" by Hindu Mahasabha president Chandra Prakash Kaushik.
He
said his trained volunteers would accost such couples and teach them
the "right" definition of love, persuading them to marry each other.
"We are not enemy of love. The indecent expression of love in public places is what we object to.
"Regardless
of their caste, we want to facilitate the marriages of those couples
who are unable to tie a knot because of parental pressure or any other
reason," Kaushik told IANS.
Unfazed by the group's plan,
27-year-old Maswood Khan said nothing would withhold him from expressing
love to his girlfriend on Feb 14.
"I'll take her for a long
ride, then will give her a red rose bouquet and ask her 'Will you be my
Valentine?' I don't care what Hindu groups plan to do. I am not doing
anything wrong so I am not afraid of expressing my love," Khan told
IANS.
On Facebook, "Shud Desi Romance - Everyone weds Anyone",
that sports a couple of smiling men in saffron with a tagline - " "Get
ready to marry!" openly invites struggling lovers to the Hindu
Mahasabha office.
But the invitation cut no ice with the
Jawaharlal Nehru university Student's Union that dared the Mahasabha to
marry an inter-caste couple and gays.
"Will you marry a boy to a
boy he likes, or a girl to a girl? Will you acknowledge their love for
each other, repeal section 377?" it asks.
National Students Union of India (NSUI) lagged behind no one.
The
student wing of the Congress organized a 'Love Parade', followed by a
street play, on the eve of Valentine's Day in Delhi University to
celebrate the spirit of love and unity and distributed chocolates and
roses to students who joined in, said a statement by the NSUI.
Equally upbeat was the commercial market with fancy decorations and special offers for the ones in love.
Archies,
a retail chain, introduced a range of 182 greeting cards and gifts
based on Valentine's theme with 'Love you this much' puppy and 'With you
always' couple teddy.
In Daily deals site Groupon India's
Valentine's Day survey, which polled over 2,000 adults across India,
women let out a collective cheer for special gifts (54 percent), a
romantic dinner date (26 percent) or opted for a simple romantic night
at home (22 percent).