The U’khand chief minister seems to have no clue to values being imparted to children

Veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan's granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda reacted to the newly appointed Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat's comment on ripped jeans and said that he needs to change his mentality. She wrote on her Instagram stories, "Wtf.. Change your mentality before changing our clothes :) because the only thing shocking here is the message comments like this send to society. Just (angry emojis)."

As a video of the remarks made by Tirath Singh Rawat went viral, hundreds of women posted photos online of them wearing ripped jeans. Most women criticised him indirectly saying, “clothes don’t define character” and “no one should be judged on their attires”. The Uttarakhand CM made the controversial remarks while addressing a child substance abuse workshop in the state. Tirath Singh described in detail the attire of a woman, who runs an NGO, and sat next to him in a flight. “You run an NGO, wear jeans ripped at the knees, move about in society, children are with you, what values you will teach?” he asked.

Before 1970, torn jeans were associated with less fortunate people, specifically the poor. The lower class of workers could not afford denim, so they could not take new pants, but wore the ones they had until they broke. The truth is simple – long before people wore torn clothes as fashion items, they wore them as a simple necessity. The reality was reversed, and in the late 1980s, during the rock / heavy metal and punk era, ripped jeans became extremely popular and were worn as a sign of rebellion. " Frayed hems had their moment in the sun but are now on their way out. Replacing them are the loose-fitting ripped jeans the fashion crowd is obsessed with. They're sure to be a staple in 2021 as an of-the-moment way to bring a laid-back quality to any look" opined a renowned website on wardrobe.

Ripped Jeans might have frayed the sensibilities of some well-intending people like Tirath Singh Rawat, but definitely, wearing ripped jeans is not a social evil setting bad values to our children. Rawat claimed it is being taught that one will not be called rich without ripped jeans and bare knees. While the BJP leader deplores the itchiness of some people to be seen as rich, BJP's economic policies of erasing a mixed-economy model and adoring the private sector wealth creators are in contrast to Rawat's aversion to being seen as rich.

In our families and society, we the people of India have collectively failed to set the right examples to our children. What values do we teach our children, when a business tycoon builds an abode costing $ 1 to 2 billion in the heart of Mumbai, in an out-and-out display of materialistic culture? What example do we set to our children when 34 out of 42 inmate children living in the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home were sexually abused, raped and tortured? What values are we talking about when a 14-year-old Muslim boy was brutally beaten for drinking water in a temple in Ghaziabad’s Dasna town?

Dog-eat-dog sort of materialist and nationalist culture can't bind a diverse society together. Convinced that the materialistic and individualistic form of modernity unfolding in the West would weaken rather than strengthen Indian social bonds, Swami Vivekananda advised that religion is the means by which to bind together an otherwise bafflingly diverse society.

While some people consider Vivekananda as “the father and preceptor of Hindutva”, many discerning thinkers argue that Swami Vivekananda was not a Hindu supremacist but a cosmopolitan patriot who strove to prepare the spiritual foundations for the Indian freedom movement and championed the pluralist doctrine that various religions are equally capable of leading to salvation. BJP's version of Hindu nationalism and economic policies rather come closer to another Bengali intellectual Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who stressed that the ruthless nature of international competition whereby the slow and dogmatic succumb to the vigorous and pragmatic. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee advised Hindus to do whatever was necessary to succeed in a dog-eat-dog world.

"BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO SCHEME" has remained a mere slogan, in the absence of concrete actions by the government towards women safety, women empowerment and gender equality. The rapists of women are not brought to book vigorously, particularly in the BJP ruled largest state of India - Uttar Pradesh. The Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, which proposes to reserve 1/3rd of all seats in the Lok Sabha and in all state legislative assemblies for women, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on 9 March 2010. However, the Lok Sabha never voted on the bill. The BJP party, with its majority in Lok Sabha, could have easily pushed this well-intended bill for women empowerment in the Lok Sabha, had there been a strong will on its part.

India’s progress towards gender equality, measured by its position on rankings such the Global Gender Gap Index has been disappointing. India has slipped four ranks in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 to the 112th spot from its 108th position in 2018, which ranks 153 countries. In the past decade, there has been a large decline in female labour force participation from 34% to 27% in India. There is clearly a need for policy initiatives and affirmative action to empower women as gender disparities in India persist even against the backdrop of economic growth.

Prominent BJP leaders like Rawat should focus on substantive issues which would inculcate right values to our children and in our society, rather than on personal wardrobe choices like ripped jeans.

(V Venkateswara Rao is an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad and a retired corporate professional. Views are personal)