’Kiss of love’ movement: Protestors against moral policing arrested by cops

TNN

Kochi, Nov 03, 2014: The placard paraphrasing Pablo Neruda that a Kiss of Love (KOL) supporter held up for the whole world to see even as she was dragged away by the police at Marine Drive on a warm Sunday evening said it all: "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep the spring from coming".

 

All around her there was a hideous ruckus as Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and Sunni Yuvajana Sangatana workers shrieked, "Save the country from immorality".

 

There was a tense atmosphere from noon onwards, with hundreds of people, mainly onlookers, gathering at Marine Drive, opposite IG’s office, to see the kissing "live".

 

 

As for KOL volunteers, by around four in the evening young men and women and even middle aged couples from various parts of Kerala had converged at a few points in the city to protest against the growing incidents of moral policing in the state. Their aim was to march to Marine Drive where ’Kiss of Love’ would be formally held.

 

By that time at Marine Drive around 5,000 onlookers had gathered. Youngsters flashing iPhones and perched on tree tops began clicking whichever woman passed. It was restless crowd, driven by repressed energy, hoping for something more real than the lewd MMSes that stoked their appetites.

 

It was an unruly crowd and the police thought fit to prevent the marchers from proceeding to the venue. The cops arrested 33 KOL supporters near Law College, around one kilometre away from the venue. As they were shoved into the waiting police vans, the volunteers began holding hands and hugging, some even smooching in defiance of the cops.

 

Supporters from even outside the state had gathered at various spots in the city and were planning to reach the venue, but had to change plans as the mob at Marine Drive became uncontrollable. Significantly, there was a huge contingent of KOL volunteers from Kozhikode which is where it all began. The campaign was ignited after RSS-affiliated Yuva Morcha activists attacked a restaurant when a private television channel aired visuals of a couple smooching in the restaurant.

 

KOL activists complained that the cops could have arranged a secure place in Marine Drive and driven off the militant anti-kiss campaign supporters but instead they chose to detain them. "They pushed and shoved our volunteers but did not touch Shiv Sena or Bajrang Dal workers,’’ said Jerry Mathew, a KOL volunteer.

 

The Kiss of Love campaign on Sunday succeeded partially. But it is only the beginning. As Namita Shan, who came from Mumbai with her two year-old kid, said, "We are coming back soon for more."