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Beauty shows bare divisions in Indian politics
By Sujoy Dhar
January 13, 2001
Kolkata - The organizers of a fashion show in this eastern Indian city,
formerly known as Calcutta, were surprised by street protests outside the
luxury hotel venue.
The protesters were women holding placards, which condemned the holding of the
"sex auction mart". Top Indian women models took part in the early January
show, staged by a leading Indian liquor company to announce its sponsorship of
a major city sports event.
The city had never before seen such a protest, unlike some other parts of India
where fashion and beauty shows have been disrupted by hardline Hindu religious
protesters.
Pageants have become popular in the wake of the country's successes in a series
of global beauty competitions, such as Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss
Asia-Pacific, in the past seven years.
What was even more surprising about the Kolkata disturbances, though, was that
the protesters were affiliated to the left-wing parties, which have ruled
India's eastern border state of West Bengal for nearly a quarter century.
Kolkata is the state capital.
Similar protests have previously been staged by radical Hindu affiliates of
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Hindu groups, especially the prominent Vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu
council), denounce pageants as a show of disrespect to Indian tradition. The
BJP-led provincial government of India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh has
even ordered a ban on beauty contests.
Sworn foes, the left-wing parties, especially the Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPM), and the BJP do not see eye to eye on most political
issues.
Indeed, the communists earlier hit out at the Hindu radical groups for the
latters' attempts at "moral policing". The left-wing parties had strongly
supported the screening of the controversial film Fire, made by India-born
Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta that dwelt on the theme of lesbianism.
Radical Hindu groups held violent protests against the film's screening in
Indian theaters. The left-wing parties also hit out at the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and other Hindu groups for stopping the shooting of Mehta's second
film Water in the north Indian holy city of Varanasi.
However, the leftist women protesters defend their decision to oppose beauty
shows. "We are being accused of having double standards. But the fact is that
we had never supported the shows as they originated from the West," says a
communist woman leader.
"We had expected the ruling BJP [in the federal government] to ban all these
shows, but they let us down," says another woman activist.
The women's groups of leading left-wing parties such as the CPM and the All
India Forward Bloc are preparing for a mass campaign against fashion shows. "A
resolution to launch a sustained movement against this obscene culture would be
soon undertaken in our state conference," says Aparajita Goppi, leader of the
women's wing of All India Forward Bloc.
"We have started with seminars and workshops to make women aware that events
like this are nothing but sex auction marts," adds CPM's Rekha Goswami. Goswami
says beauty pageants are "extreme forms of commodification of the female body
and demean womanhood".
Says another woman activist: "[Nobel Peace laureate] Mother Teresa [who lived
and worked in this city] was never beautiful. Pageants like this concentrate on
physical beauty alone and treat women as commodities."
However, independent women's groups in Kolkata do not agree with the left-wing
women leaders. Noted women's rights activist Maitreyee Chatterjee says while
she disapproves of such shows, she does not think they should be forcibly
stopped. "I don't feel that anyone has the right to ban beauty pageants. I am
totally against them in principle. I do believe that pageants demean women as
these contests send the message that beauty . . . is only physical," she says.
"[Such shows] are not a corruption of Indian culture alone as they demean women
of all cultures. But it is a free country and if some girls like to walk down
the ramps, its their choice."
Internationally-acclaimed woman filmmaker Aparna Sen, who is based here, also
frowns on the protests. "In a democracy you can only protest, you cannot ban. I
think these people are again playing moral guardians," she says.
The left-wing protests have led to statements of defiance by those who organize
and participate in such shows. "There is nothing immoral or exploitative about
these shows and we will continue to hold them," says a fashion industry
representative even as protesters demonstrated noisily outside the venue of
another beauty show.
Says leading model Koyena: "Such protests should be rubbished. What's wrong
with beauty pageants and ramp shows? Modeling is just another profession and
the beauty business just another business."
"There can be no place for cultural fundamentalism in a democracy," another
leading model Meghna Das was quoted as saying.
The issue is being widely debated and receiving prominent media coverage, often
with comments from the women who take part in the shows.
"Many models and actresses use these beauty pageants as a launching pad for
their careers. Indian women now have a pedestal and people across the globe can
appreciate that. A ban would be childish," says Celina Jaitley, a model and
Miss India finalist.
"The business of beauty and fashion are big industries in India. There are
thousands now whose lives depend on this. It might not be easy to dismiss the
issue merely as a question of culture or morality," adds actress Raima Sen.
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