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V Gangadhar

The Charge of the Morals Brigade

Ever since Khushwant Singh's hard-hitting novel, Train to Pakistan, was published, it has been plagued with controversy. The latest one deals with the film version of the book, which deals with the problems of the Partition. Made by a London-based producer, the film was premiered on Star Plus on the evening of August 15. But not before it caused some palpitations. The censors, it was reported, were not happy with portions of the film and its earthy dialogue which included some of the choicest swear words in Hindi and Punjabi. Ultimately, however, they had a change of mind and the film was aired per schedule.

Train to Pakistan was, at least in the 1950s, a bold book. It described sexual scenes in crude detail and the language used was pretty raw. I had read the book in the late 1950s, when I was working in Ahmedabad. To my great surprise, the Gujarat university recommended it for the Indo-Anglian literature section in the master's course in English literature.

Now, Gujarat was pretty straitlaced in those days. To a certain extent, it remains the same even today. Prohibition was strictly enforced and there were any number of self-appointed custodians of public morality. They saw in it that the average Gujarati did not smoke, drink, eat meat or fornicate outside his marriage bed.

Naturally, the self-appointed custodians of public morals were outraged by the university's recommendations and were certain that it would lead to depravity amongst the students. So they held demonstrations against the book all over the city. I am not sure whether the book was removed as a subject of study, but the ensuing publicity certainly did result in it being sold out from all the book shops. For a brief period, Train to Pakistan outsold even the Bhagvad Gita and The Speeches of Gandhiji.

I was fascinated by the attitude and actions of the self-appointed custodians of public morals. They consisted of men and women above 50, and were closely affiliated with the Morarji Desai faction of the Congress. They wore khadi and were members of the Seva Dal. The Congress was the only powerful party in the state and the moral custodians sought, and received, official sanction for their crusade. They pounced on any issue or outlet which made people laugh openly and enjoy themselves. The custodians preferred that the people pray, do puja, participate in bhajan (hymn) and kavi (poetry) sammelans (gatherings) and think only Gandhian thoughts.

Mind you, they were a powerful lobby in those days. Many of the affluent citizens of the city who wanted to drink and have a fling sought these pleasures in Bombay. In Ahmedabad, they only prayed and constantly quoted Gandhiji! During the early 1960's, one of the top restaurants in the city, which was famous for its ice cream, announced that it would hold 'jam sessions' on Sunday mornings. A juke box was installed and couples were invited to dance.

This was enough to raise the hackles of the moral custodians. How dare the restaurant organise something that would certainly corrupt the youth of Ahmedabad? Someone met the moral custodians but could not convince them that there was nothing wrong in young people coming together and having a bit of harmless fun. He could have addressed a brick wall instead.

The moral custodians announced that they would organise a satyagraha in front of the restaurant. Many of the major political leaders and social workers would attend the satyagraha because they wanted to stop the 'immoral' activities proposed by the restaurant. Well, the sessions were cancelled and patrons of the restaurant had to be content eating bread and jam!

It was decisive victory and the moral custodians crowed over it.

Some months later, a local Rotary Club announced its plan for a national meet of the Rotarians. Foreign delegates were also expected to attend. The entertainment planned included a session of ballroom dancing. A special dance floor was to be installed for the same.

The Rotarians had not reckoned with the clout of the moral custodians brigade. Its more vocal members again announced a satyagraha. They pointed out that the proposed dance was to held on the lawns of the government-run Gujarat College, which was also the venue of the Rotary meet. I was then a reporter with the local daily. One of the pioneers of the morals movement told me in all seriousness, "Do you know that many students of Gujarat College are from the scheduled castes and tribes? As I understand, they have very strong sexual urges. If they watched men and women dancing, holding each other close, their blood may boil and they may go out of control!"

Obviously, this brilliant 'analysis' convinced the top Rotarians, who felt they could not control the students whose blood 'may boil'. The ballroom dance item was deleted, much to everyone's satisfaction. It was reported that the dance programme was replaced with a session where everyone sang Gandhiji's favourite bhajans.

The morals crusade movement reached its peak when the Janata Party came to power at the centre in 1975. Gujarat's own Morarji Desai was made the prime minister and he was Puritanism personified. Desai appointed his crony, Prabhudas Patwari (a leader of the self-appointed custodians of public morals in Ahmedabad) as the governor of Tamil Nadu. Patwari carried his crusade to Madras and abolished non-vegetarian dishes from the Raj Bhavan menu. Liquor and cigarettes also vanished.

When Sanjeeva Reddy, the then president of India, visited Tamil Nadu, he found he could not have his favourite meat and chicken dishes and had to make do, instead, with bhindi (lady's finger), palak (spinach) and brinjals! Foreign visitors were also placed under the same restrictions and the Madras Raj Bhavan began to be studiously avoided by dignitaries.

The Tamil Nadu government complained to the centre about the governor's eccentricities. Fortunately, the Janata government at the centre fell within two years, Patwari was removed from his post and visitors to Madras Raj Bhavan could once again feast on meat and chicken dishes and smoke their pipes in peace. Patwari went back to Ahmedabad where he resumed his crusade.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier