Club Troppo

It’s not just western cartoons causing protests abroad. In India Hindu activists are protesting against Valentine’s Day.

According to Asian News International Valentine’s Day has become increasingly popular in India in recent years with retailers doing a brisk trade in heart-shaped balloons and fluffy teddy bears. Not everyone approves:

Activists from the Shiv Sena burned Valentines Day cards on the eve of the years most romantic day and warned couples across India against getting too amorous over a foreign celebration that corrupts traditional values.

Gulshan Kapur, President of the Varanasi Unit of Shiv Sena party, has put out a warning to young people:

If we see anyone indulging in immoral or indecent activities tomorrow in the name of Valentines Day, which corrupts our culture, well catch hold of them and ask them the true definition of love. Well also call their family members and if they agree, the girls and boys will be married then and there. Otherwise, they’ll be mounted atop donkeys with tonsured heads and will be taken around the city.

Last year members of the Shiv Sena party dubbed Valentines Day ‘Prostitution Day‘ claiming that it was turning young people away from their culture and traditions.