Flying kiss row in Parliament: It belittles the fiercer battles that women across the country fight everyday

The irony is that the uproar coincided with the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh telling a Delhi court, “Merely touching a woman without sexual intent doesn’t involve criminal activity…the event is a wrestling event…the coaches are mostly male. If out of anxiety or joy of doing something for the nation, a coach hugs his student, it shouldn’t be considered an offence”. The submissions were made as the court heard arguments on framing of charges against Singh and suspended WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar on sexual harassment charges by women wrestlers who brought laurels to the country but had to protest for months to bring their harassers to book.

Irani and her ministry were conspicuous in their silence in Singh’s case; as they were when women were raped and paraded naked in Manipur and when a family was fighting for justice in Hathras where a Dalit girl was raped and murdered in 2020.

Whether an average woman would find Rahul Gandhi’s blink-and-miss act a gesture of misogyny is highly debatable. It was definitely not a mature act for a parliamentarian but it also wasn’t as indecent a gesture as it is being made out to be. A caring hug, a peck on the cheek or a harmless flying kiss can be a warm gesture often.

Also Read

Inside Track by Coomi Kapoor: Allied problems, Cong-AAP ties & Hema Malin...

P Chidambaram writes: Aid and Advise

Faizan Mustafa writes: New penal code falls short of its laudable objectives

Ram Madhav writes on Partition Horrors Remembrance Day: A division of hearts

A woman’s battle against misogyny, prejudices and hatred is not limited to an MP blowing a flying kiss in Parliament. She fights much fiercer battles in her daily life — on the street, in the discomforts of home, in office spaces, inside public transport or while labouring at construction sites and farms. Don’t belittle her fights by saying a flying kiss was the worst act of misogyny ever.

yamini.nair@expressindia.com