E-Paper
Opposed to same sex unions, RSS, affiliates welcome SC decision
While the Sangh has over the years softened it’s stand on homosexuality, it continues to oppose marriage between same sex individuals
New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its offshoots on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision not legalise same sex marriages and barring couples from adoption.
The Sangh, the ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been steadfast in its opposition to such unions, dubbing them as “unnatural”. The BJP, too, has been against same sex marriages, even as both the party and the Sangh lent support to the demand for decriminalisng homosexuality.
Within hours of the SC decision, Sunil Ambeka, the chief spokesperson of the RSS said, the decision regarding same sex marriage is “welcome” and India’s “democratic parliamentary system can seriously discuss all the issues related to this and take appropriate decisions.”
Similar views were echoed by Alok Kumar, the central working president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a hardline affiliate of the Sangh. “Today we are satisfied that the Supreme Court, after listening to all the concerned parties including Hindu, Muslim and Christian followers, has given the decision that the relationship between two homosexuals in the form of marriage, is not eligible for registration. This is not even their fundamental right. Not giving homosexuals the right to adopt a child is also a good step,” Kumar said.
BJP lawmaker Harnath Singh Yadav welcomed the apex court’s decision and said same sex unions should be “condemned”.
“These unions are antithetical to the customs, traditions and religious practices followed in India and have no place here. People who support such unions are those with a perverted and convoluted mindset and it seems they are part of a campaign to destroy the morality and ethics of this country,” he said.
Also Read: SC refuses to legalise same-sex marriage, says queer couples have right to cohabit
While the Sangh and its leadership have over the years softened their stand on homosexuality, they are unwavering in their opposition to allowing marriages between same sex individuals.
“This is primarily because the Sangh views such relations as a threat to the concept of marriage being a sacred union and not a contract and to the concept of family. In the last decade, family or ‘Kutumb Prabodhan’, focussed on deepening family ties, has been an area of focus for the Sangh. They are concerned that western lifestyle and concepts are weakening the Indian traditional way of life and same sex marriages will exacerbate the problem,” said a Sangh functionary, asking not to be named.
The Sangh has held Shakhas for families and to encourage them to participate as a unit. The family itself has been denoted as a union of male and female. “Often Sangh leaders are questioned about the status of transgender in society, about live-in relationship and contractual marriages. We have said unequivocally that there should be no discrimination based on gender, but the rest society has already laid down norms. If society wants to reconsider the norms of marriages, it should be discussed widely. It cannot be a court order or a pressure group push,” the functionary quoted above said.
In 2018, while the Sangh supported the Supreme Court’s judgment to decriminalise gay sex, it asserted that the support was not for same sex marriages.
“Bharatiya (Indian) society also doesn’t have the tradition to recognise such relations,” its then chief spokesperson Arun Kumar said. The first signs of the Sangh revisiting its views on homosexuality came in 2016 when the then joint general secretary, Dattatreya Hosabale, said: “Homosexuality is not a crime but a socially immoral act in our society.” He went on to say that homosexuality should not be punished but treated as a psychological issue.
