No, Mr Kadam – Women cannot be kidnapped at will

Ram Kadam, a BJP spokesperson and MLA from Maharashtra, undermined his party’s Beti Bachao slogan when he offered to kidnap girls for the boys in his constituency. But the friendly MLA said he would disregard the girl’s will only if the boy’s family was on board. “If the parents of the boy like the girl, I will 100% help the boy in abducting the girl,” he promised, even handing out his phone number. Of course, opposition parties pounced on him, with Congress politician Subodh Saoji revealing his own illiberal colours by offering a bounty to chop Kadam’s tongue.

The fact that consent is everything, that love and romance is valid only if both people are enthusiastic about each other, is still not understood by many people. Many in the political class still see women solely as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters, service providers and appendages in a male world rather than fellow humans and citizens with full rights and independent desires.

Kadam fails to see the women he promised to potentially kidnap are his constituents too, independent of the parents who want to protect them or the men who want to marry them. This is the crux of the issue. So it’s not enough to mock Kadam and his party with ‘Beti Uthao, Beti Bhagao’ or ‘Ravan Kadam’ inversions, we must first acknowledge that women are not just betis or treasures or future nurturers of families, they are their own persons. Their security being threatened by their own MLA would then be the clear outrage it is.