By Sujata Anandan / National Herald India

What is it about the saffron class that brings the manhood of Hindu men to question? And equates civility, refinement and niceness with a lack of it?

I remember years ago when the Shiv Sena had just started a women’s wing in the wake of 30 percent reservation for women in local self-government bodies. Before that the Shiv Sena was an all-male party with no place for women. And despite being a female chauvinist, I believe it would have been a good thing if women had remained out of the Shiv Sena a little longer – for then the 1992-93 riots would not have taken as many lives as it eventually did.

For it was not the men but the women who were the force behind those riots. They made up stories of being molested by the Muslim men in their bastis when nothing of the kind happened and then hoped their husbands would go for the kill.

When that didn’t happen, they presented bangles to their husbands, put bindis on their foreheads and hid away their trousers, shirts, vests and pyjamas as they slept, dressing them in their petticoats, so the men just could not leave home in those female garments.

Ultimately the men gave in, though very reluctant to execute Bal Thackeray’s orders, for they were not sure of the repercussions, and in any case they were not inclined to violence as they knew their wives were lying about being molested by Muslims, and wanted only to be earning their livelihood in peace.

But when they finally hit the streets, the women offered them cover from police action, throwing a ring round the attackers, making it difficult for the police to break the female cordon to reach the rioters and giving them enough time to disappear into the woodwork.

The ferocity of these women stunned even Bal Thackeray who gave them the sobriquet of “Ranraginis” (women warriors) and really did not know what to do with them afterwards. Of course, they scoffed at his advice that they should now look after their husbands and make a comfortable home, they were always at odds with the men in the Shiv Sena, demanding more recognition and very disappointed that they failed to be duly acknowledged by their leaders.

But these initial saffron women forces came from the slums of the city where they faced a hard existence, and after the riots turned into a sisterhood turning on their own men for demanding dowries, battering their wives, coming home drunk or snatching their wives’ earnings. Not receiving much traction from the party leaders they have now largely retreated except for the necessity of the 30 percent reservation for women in the local self-government bodies.

But now there is a different kind of saffron woman emerging from the shadows, alongside saffron-clad rascals (I refuse to call them sadhus or sants because that involves much more intellectual prowess than just rabble-rousing) who are falling into questioning the manhood of Hindu men just because they are pacifist, wish to live in harmony and do not want to spoil their karma by killing and mayhem.

Already these saffron Satans have given a call for the genocide of Muslims in the country, tried to auction Muslim women on the Net, something no other country in the world has done before. A couple of the saffron Satans have specifically egged the men to display their manhood by becoming more aggressive and violent towards Muslims.

But it is the saffron women who take the cake. One so-called godwoman had the enlightened opinion that Hindu girls are attracted to Muslim men for their sensuality that is – obviously – lacking in Hindu men.

So, whose fault is that if Hindu men are boors, wife-beaters, self-gratifying beasts who can never understand the language of romance or what it means to be charming or chivalrous? And yet these saffron Satans instead of teaching Hindu men to be as “sensuous” and romantic as Muslim men and thus challenge them measure for measure, are teaching them how to be uglier and more unattractive to not just Hindu women but the world in general.

After all, the recent calls by at least two saffron Satans for genocide of Muslims is just that – a call to Hindu bigots to turn uglier than they are, alienate all the nicer women in the community and push them to seeking better pastures in the quest for a comfortable respectable life, isn’t it?

But it is some educated women ideologically inclined towards the saffron brigade who surpass these men whose call can be said to be very fantastical. Recently, there was a so-called feminist who went beyond the usual call against so-called love jihad to demand a white paper (of all things!) from the government against ‘sex jihad’ by Muslim men who are trained to become, hold your breath, stud bulls! So that they can lure – and seemingly – hold Hindu women to their sides all their lives.

Since then, many sexologists from around the country who have been struggling to treat impotence among Indian men have demanded to know how one trains any man to become a stud bull. For in decades of practice, the process has quite escaped these sexologists.

Of course, after the ridicule poured on her that particular so-called feminist, to whom the sex jihad was probably a fantasy, deleted that tweet. But it makes me wonder – she is highly educated, unlike the Shiv Sena women of the 1990s who reacted from the gut to ingrained prejudices to urge their men into rioting.

When someone as educated and accomplished as this woman fantasises about the sexual prowess of Muslim men, I begin to wonder how saffron can screw up your grey cells and render you obnoxious, odious and so distasteful – yes, men as well as women, saffron Satans as well as ordinary individuals.

What kind of a mind is it that values killing over brotherhood, blood over harmony, rape over romance and, yes, animalistic behaviour towards women (please recall the Sulli-Bulli bai controversies) over the sensuality that even these minds are so envious of? The answer clearly is – the mind of a Hindutva bigot, perhaps abused as a child, deprived in youth and loathed as adults.

It reminds me of a story I would rather not recall – of a young boy from the slums caught peeping at bathroom windows, beaten to the bone by the residents who ran away to join some wandering sadhus. It should have rescued his soul but he returned in saffron robes to be accused of stealing and molesting by people who had warmly welcomed him back.

I may be biased but it only reinforced my belief that the saffron ideology is only a cover-up for a criminal mind. True as much of the political as the pseudo-religious like the people who attended the dharma sansad in Haridwar that first gave out the call for genocide in India. Give me the grey over saffron any day!

This article first appeared on nationalheraldindia.com