The culture and tourism Minister struck again with his misogynistic words this week when he said women travelling to India should refrain from wearing skirts, keeping Indian ethos in mind. He also went on to say that a welcome kit with these instructions would be handed to tourists on arrival. This isn't the first time that Mahesh Sharma has made such irresponsible and regressive comments about women. On earlier occasions too he has spoken on women by saying girls enjoying a night out is not acceptable in India, as quoted “(It) may be all right elsewhere but it is not part of Indian culture “ . While talking about preserving India's culture from 'western modernization,' the minister said "In our culture women of three generations cook food in the same kitchen... in Europe, a 16-year-old leaves home…Culture defines a nation. The time has come to win back our culture from the negative influence of Western culture."
The focus of a tourism minister should be on how to increase number of tourists to India considering last year saw dismal tourist arrivals. However the tourism minister who should be reassuring tourists by promising them efficient checks and balances to prevent such crimes is instead warning them to follow a dress diktat for their own safety. India's took a beating in 2015 after overseas arrivals grew at the slowest pace in three years and foreign currency earnings dipped. Earnings from tourism fell 2.8% to $19.6 billion. As per the tourism ministry report in 2014 while the number of foreign tourists increased 10% over the previous year the foreign female tourists slipped in the same period. Many nations have recommended extra caution in their advisory to women choosing to travel to India, the US state department even discourages them from travelling alone to India citing safety concerns as a reason.
What is unsafe for a woman in India is the deeply entrenched patriarchal mindset that makes Indian men believe that they can violate a woman with impunity and their inability to report it for fear of being stigmatized for speaking up. This is the mindset which we need to address and change however the culture minister’s words seem to endorse the very same patriarchy that prevails. It certainly doesn't speak well of the government when a minister responsible for increasing tourism numbers to India gets away by pronouncing judgment on women’s attire.
After much outrage the minister attempted to defend it by saying this advice was meant for religious places. It clearly is an afterthought and a fig leaf of an excuse to cover up the regressive mindset of looking at every female tourist from the narrow mindset of sanskar a word that we are hearing a lot of since this government came to power. Is expecting our men to know how to behave around women not a part of India's sanskar? Does the onus of sanskar lie only on the shoulder of a woman –on what she wears, how she speaks and at what time of the hour she chooses to be back home?
Instead of restricting women, the minister would do well to focus on creating conditions to make our women tourists feel safe -- enforcing law and order, providing adequate training to police, having more women in the police force and sensitising them to handling such cases would be a good start. Most importantly for our tourism Minister it would be best to allow his action to speak in terms of work rather than his misogynistic words that make the entire nation cringe!