Indian minister calls for Goa beach bikini ban
Sudin Dhavalikar, the state's public works department minister, told reporters on Tuesday that bikini wearing "can attract problems like molestations" which police find out about too late to deal with.
"I feel that wearing bikinis should be banned on the beaches," he said.
"We should not allow such types of people to enter public places."
Dhavalikar, a member of the local Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party which is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had early sparked criticism for saying girls going to pubs in short dresses did not fit in with local culture.
"What will happen to our Goan culture, if we allow this? The scantily-dressed girls visiting pubs project wrong culture and this should be stopped," he said.
Members of the rival Congress party in Goa responded by sending a pink skirt to Dhavalikar, saying they would not tolerate "moral policing".
Goa's long sandy beaches have been a haven for tourists for decades, but the state has cracked down on its nightlife over the past few years after a series of high-profile crimes including the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling in 2008.
The state last year rejected a proposal for India's first Playboy club on one of its beaches and announced a ban on dance bars.
COMMENTS (23)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732428810-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(3)1732428810-0-270x192.webp "philippine vp warns of assassination plot against president if she is killed")
I am positively ancient, but can still appreciate the elegance and dress sense of Indian women, which is second to none. Minister Sudin Dhavalikar should do what he does best, and leave fashion to other people who are better qualified than he is.
So be it.
(who's going there anyway)
@WB: OK, so I missed a word in "The fact is that we have no clue how many rapes including marital rapes used to occur in the past because many such cases were never reported."
Would urge you to watch the VICE report on Gulabi Gang. The fact is that even today, many cases of rape and assault of women in rural areas go unreported.
Regarding putting up warning boards about a bikini ban, see for yourself how many Indians urinate right under a "Do not urinate here" sign.
Anyway Goa CM Parrikar mentioned just yesterday that there will be no bikini ban and that he grew up seeing bikinis. :Not entirely liberal, but nevertheless no bikini ban.
"Parrikar: There is no indecency about bikinis. I have been seeing bikinis in Goa since my childhood. But it should be limited to swimming."
@goldconsumer: You said: (Saffronization??)
That becomes a self-affirming laconic question but implication is not wholly true. The fact is in such matters it's 'tricoloured': saffron-green-white. The orthodox & the clergy of all three major religions of India unite on issues of how women must dress & how gays need 'treatment'. The inheritors of Vatsayana, Kalyana Malla & Sheikh Nefzawi feel threatened! And many don't recollect that there are Scheduled Tribes of hills & islands in India for whom a two-piece bikini is one piece too many & not because they can't afford extra cloth.
@Scientific freedom: People could go on an on how men should be stopped from raping, but the fact is, sadly, that most men who come from lower castes, stratas and villages, are oblivious to seeing woman dressed in such clothes.
A long time ago, my family visited a lesser-known beach in Kerala where we stumbled upon a European couple sun-bathing in the nude. My family had never come across something like it before and were totally surprised. Equally surprised were a bunch of villagers who were commenting at a distance. They were all ascertaining from each other if the couple actually had no clothes on. However nobody did anything or mentioned a word to them. They all seemed to explain it away as one of the quirks of the Europeans.
My point is that we Indians have a long tradition of letting others be. Women wearing skimpy clothes or no clothes at all is not new as our ancient temples are full of sculptures of men and women in the nude.
To answer @Scientific freedom, you would be surprised how liberal many of our rural folk can be. Maybe we should have more women wearing bikinis so that everyone gets used to seeing women like that.
@WB: Also let’s face the facts, we are a country of perverts and rapists. We were not so some decades ago. But we have become one today.
More rapes being registered by the police now does not mean that there were less rapes before. The fact is that we have no clue how many rapes including marital rapes used to occur in the past because such cases were never reported.
@WB: Given how understaffed the police of every state are, I welcome this move.
What the Goan minister is actually suggesting is that Goa police must now turn into a bikini police. Not exactly something an understaffed department (as you claim) must do.
Saffornization??
@Indian reader: Yes. And Germany and Ecuador and Swaziland and Tuvalu. There you go, Indian reader.
@Gp65: (However he has a right to introduce bills in the legislature, )
Not to miss the wood for a stray tree but to share:- He has no such Right. He is a Minister & member of the Cabinet. He can only be a part of Cabinet's collective decision to introduce such a Bill which in effect means BJP's decision as the Party in power. Almost all Bills are of government-introduction & member compliance is ensured by Chief Whip of the party. In india, no member of Cabinet is allowed to introduce a private member's Bill. Such a bill has scant chances of becoming an Act anyway! Interesting that in the history of Lok Sabha for example only 14 such private member's bills have become laws; the last one was in 1970.
@Scientific freedom:
"eople could go on an on how men should be stopped from raping, but the fact is, sadly, that most men who come from lower castes, stratas and villages, are oblivious to seeing woman dressed in such clothes."
That's a sad thing to read from an educated person.
Do you have any statistics to prove that illiterate rubes are responsible for most rapes in India?
I doubt that. In fact a majority of such cases are happening from educated city folks.
I don't see the big fuss here even though I like to look at bikini girls as much as the next guy.
Nudity is not a symbol of liberalization. Bikini does not mean a liberated/free woman.
A bikini beach does not mean a free country.
I ask you, if bikini is banned, who is going to suffer losses? Maybe except for bikini manufacturers.
In the rest of Indian beaches, I don't know if bikini is banned or not, but nobody wears bikinis and people still have fun.
Also let's face the facts, we are a country of perverts and rapists. We were not so some decades ago. But we have become one today.
Given how understaffed the police of every state are, I welcome this move.
@Moiz Omar: The same thing applicable to Pakistan also!
@young: I do not agree with the minister's recommendation - just like you. However he has a right to introduce bills in the legislature, Ultimately, if what he wants is not popular, people will make themselves heard and legislators will not vote for the bill. Of they vote for things which are against the will of the people, they willnot be re-elected. That is the essence of democracy
@Scientific freedom: Where is your scientific evidence that wearing a bikini is more likely to get a woman raped than wearing a salwar kameez or saree? Unless you can prove that it is the dress of a woman that leads men to misbehave, you should not impose constraints on the women based on your preconceived notions.
i think India has more issues than banning bikini clad damsels & mini skirt ladies their local sanitation for their people is shameless. The rich can dream about their fancy bidets but the poor have to use whatever means available. The recent rape & hanging proves that the fast growing democratic power house in Asia is moving forward in many economic areas except the latarines!
Why not have more lady constables and lady police at beaches to catch such molesters instead of banning bikinis?
People could go on an on how men should be stopped from raping, but the fact is, sadly, that most men who come from lower castes, stratas and villages, are oblivious to seeing woman dressed in such clothes. They have not had the same education that me and you have had, they do not have much awareness spread in their respective villages about such cases, and they still have the ancient mentality of treating women like objects, beating them and making them do things at your will.
When you have such in people in your country, you could go on being as liberal and modernist as you want to be, but the fact would remain that such cases will continually keep happening in your country until you take actions to educate the entire country stringently.
Keeping things into context, in the short term atleast, i'd agree with the minister.
@ModiFied: It Still Happens... I Saw It In Vagator Beach Recently.... people Of india in general And Goa in Particular liberal .... Far More Than Those Dirty Perverted Pathetic Old Polticians Regards
There is a quote the Indian minister should know: "Don't tell women what not to wear. Tell men not to rape."
(“I feel that wearing bikinis should be banned on the beaches,” he said.“We should not allow such types of people to enter public places.”)
Haqeer-o-natwaan tinka Hawa ke dosh par parran, Samajhta tha ke bahr-o-bar per meri hukamraani hai.
A flimsy & trivial straw, On the wings of wind afloat, Vainly thinks he is the lord of all that lies below.
(Gopal Mittal; Lahore-Delhi; 1906-93)
Not too long ago one could watch foreigners taking nude bath at Goa beaches and public simply did not care. In fact it was tourist attraction. Are we becoming more narrow minded ? Most of the women raped in India and elsewhere were not in bikinis but in full length cloths.
better mind your own business than acting like moral police.