Sangh eyes jeans, mini skirts now

Sangh eyes jeans, mini skirts now
AMIT SHARMA

KANPUR, FEB 19: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has followed up its Valentine Day crackdown on dating students here with a new missive: It has `barred' girl students in the city from wearing skirts and jeans to counter ``foreign culture''.Though many here see it as an attempt to stay in the news, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is undaunted and is planning its next move -- to target PCOs and restaurants with huts near schools, particularly of girls.Chakresh Awasthi, a student leader, says: ``We have requested the district administration to launch a drive against the PCOs and restaurants in the vicinity of schools, but no action has been taken so far. We will launch a mass awakening to force the PCOs and restaurants to go, but it will all be done peacefully.''Regarding the `dress code', the ABVP claims that four schools three of girls and a co-ed have decided to change their uniform and they are persuading others to do the same.

``St Mary's convent, the Mairampur school, Acharya Narendra Dev Degree College and Dayanand Anglovedic Colelge have agreed to follow our dress code. We do not force anyone but are requesting and trying to create a social awakening to constraint the rising influence of western countries in our city,'' Chote Lal Yadav, organising secretary of the ABVP's Kanpur unit, told The Indian Express.

Sources in the St Mary's convent, however, claim the decision to change the uniform was taken a year back and not after pressure from the organisation. A senior teacher says: ``We had issued circulars to parents that girls studying from class XI to XII will not come to school in skirts, and instead wear salwar suit from the new academic year beginning April. There was no pressure from any side as we had taken this decision a year back.''There is resentment at the move. Says Dinesh Awasthi, a bank official: ``Who are they to decide what our college-going girls will wear? This is the failure of the government. If not checked at this stage, the ABVP men will come out with diet and living codes.''Social scientist K N Sharma echoes his views.

``The vandalism in Kanpur on Valentine's Day and the protests against shooting of Water in Varanasi are not two separate incidents but an attempt by the Sangh Parivar and its outfits to remain in the news. ``They were anyway left with no issues following the demolition of the Babri mosque,'' he says.