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Opposition to the Kiss of Love event, a campaign being held in various parts of India and now planned in Bengaluru, has come from opposite ends of the spectrum: members of the Congress and the Opposition BJP.

While the latest voice in the chorus is Manjula Manasa, an advocate who heads the Karnataka State Women’s Rights Commission, several Ministers in the State Cabinet, Congress and BJP leaders, besides Hindutva proponents, have already expressed their opposition to the event. A faction of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti has also opposed it.

Jagadish Shettar, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and Swami Pranavananda, president of the State unit of the Akhila Bharata Hindu Mahasabha, said that if the State government gave the green signal for the campaign, it might lead to law and order problems. The latter said that mahasabha activists would disrupt the event if it was permitted. Sri Rama Sene leader Pramod Muthalik has even threatened to take the law into his hands if the campaign is held.

Interestingly, Ministers, including Ramalinga Reddy and Umashree have opposed it. While Ms. Umashree said that public display of affection is “against our culture”, Mr. Reddy advised activists to take up a Gandhian way of protesting. Motamma, Congress MLC, who is part of an expert committee looking into cases of sexual assault on women and children, argued that though she was against moral policing, it was not proper to go to “another extreme” to oppose it.

Interestingly, all of them appear to be united in their argument that the event is against our culture, and therefore needs to be opposed.

“It is ridiculous to oppose the Kiss of Love campaign in the name of culture, though we believe that a protest of this kind is a knee-jerk reaction rather than a sustained movement necessary to empower the young,” said K.S. Vimala of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane.

“We need to understand this as a reaction to the extreme Right’s effort to curb the freedom of young people. It is time to look at the deeper roots of the issue.”