Why Some Groups Declare War on Valentine’s Day Every Year

Every year, as couples celebrate Valentine’s Day, right-wing groups like Bajrang Dal hit the streets — chasing lovers.

Transcript

00:11Every Valentine's Day, India celebrates love and every Valentine's Day, some groups declare a war on it.

00:26Members of Pajranggal, right-wing Hindu youth,

00:29organizations, storm parks, cafes and malls, confronting couples, chasing them away and

00:34forcing some to die rakhi's to try to turn lovers into siblings.

00:40If you want to make love's day, then you can make it.

00:45And sometimes it goes even further.

00:47This couple's punishment was being forced to apply vermilion on each other's foreheads,

00:51a symbolic marriage imposed on the spot.

00:54All in the name of protecting Indian values.

01:04To these groups, Valentine's Day isn't about love.

01:07They see it as a Western cultural invasion, one that threatens what they call traditional Indian values.

01:19Values like arranged marriages, restraint and moral discipline, public modesty, or what they call Hindu maryada.

01:26Love, Jihad, is an issue in our society. How do we stop it?

01:32For decades, right-wing groups have protested not just Valentine's Day but also Christmas,

01:37calling them foreign influencers destroying Indian culture.

01:40But love keeps happening anyway.

01:42Because the truth is, you can't boycott feelings and you definitely can't police love forever.

01:48Long.

01:49Long.

01:50Long.