Beggars, go home: What Hema Malini's Vrindavan widow comment tells us

There are many perils of recruiting a movie star into the political fold. They may be naive, and unaccustomed to the rough-and-tumble to electoral jousting. They may be slackers, unaware that their constituency is not a movie set where they need to show up only when the cameras are on. They may be motor mouths, running off their mouths in the expectation that the news media will deferentially look the other way much as the Bollywood press does with its stars. Today, we learnt that Hema Malini combines all the above liabilities and has one more: a mile-wide mean streak. It takes a combination of colossal cupidity and just plain mean-ness to pick on the widows of Vrindavan. And that is exactly what the BJP MP from Mathura displayed when she said during a tour of a shelter home that, “Vrindavan widows have a bank balance, good income, nice beds, but they beg out of habit.” (That her comment was reportedly sparked by the “poor living conditions” at the shelter makes it all the more inexplicable/) [caption id=“attachment_1717865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hema Malini has demonstrated a peculiar twist of personality: AFP[/caption] The widows of Vrindavan have long been a symbol of gender inequality in India, as Sulabh International notes on its website: Ever since the horrendous practice of Sati was banned over 250 years ago, Vrindavan has become host to widows from all over India. The bulk of them, now sheltering in ashrams here, are from Bengal. Shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition – and because they’re seen as a financial drain on their families – they pass their days in abject poverty and want, begging in the streets or squatting or lying on the steps outside the temples. Often clad in rags, they are also seen squatting in dirty lanes, their life reduced to begging for scraps of food. And when they breathe their last, there’s nobody even to take care of their cremation. It is appropriate to quote Sulabh here since it is a visit to their shelter that prompted Ms Malini’s remarks, and one assumes that she would have at least glanced at their pamphlet in preparation for her appearance. But in case Sulabh is seen as being ‘biased’, let’s note that their shelters were created in response to a Supreme Court directive to provide for these abandoned women. So its safe to say that it takes a peculiar leap of imagination to view women abandoned by their own families, or who are fleeing abuse and discrimination, as habitual beggars. The former queen of Bollywood’s version of reality, however, has a political twist, as she made clear: “There are 40,000 widows in Vrindavan. I think there is no more place in the city. A large population is coming from Bengal… that’s not right. Why don’t they stay in Bengal? There are nice temples there. The same is true for those from Bihar.” Ah, not only are they freeloaders, but they are – shock, horror – migrant freeloaders. And that’s when it becomes clear that this isn’t a loose-tongued celebrity making a verbal gaffe but a clever BJP politician throwing red meat to her anti-migrant voters. “For decades, West Bengal has had progressive governments. They should have provided facilities for rehabilitation of these hapless women. Why should they come all the way to Vrindavan and beg for alms, bringing a bad name to this holy town… It is high time these widows returned to their own states,” a local priest Radhey Shyam tells IANS. “There are numerous fake widows too, and many are suspected to be Bangladeshis,” adds another without any proof – because, well, any one who speaks Bengali might as well be one. Never mind that Vrindavan has long been dubbed the city of widows – who have flocked to it from around the nation, and even the world. Never mind that their presence is sanctioned by Hindu tradition. Never mind that the last time we checked, one fundamental right of citizenship is the freedom of movement. Never mind that Vrindavan has greater threats to its well-being like, say, mining, illegal construction, and the depletion of water resources. But none of this matter because when patriarchy meets xenophobia, the results are unlikely to be rational or pretty. Something the gorgeous Ms Malini may want to keep in mind the next time she visits a shelter for widows.