What gives politicians the right to believe they are the custodians of peoples’ morals? How the people choose to entertain themselves is largely their business — as long as they do not intrude into other peoples’ lives and create a public nuisance. In any case, given the fact that politicians are not paragons of moral virtue themselves, they should desist dictating as to how people should safeguard their ‘good moral character.’ Besides, the times have changed. Notions of proper cultural norms and decent moral conduct have undergone a sea-change, influenced, no doubt, by the creeping westernisation of our social and cultural morals. It is, therefore, illogical, even retrogressive, for the legislators in Maharashtra to try and ban Mumbai’s dance bars.
It simply doesn’t make sense. Then, why stop at legislating against dance bars alone, why not enforce complete prohibition? Excessive consumption of alcohol is a proven killer. It also is a cause of social strife, particularly in poor communities, destroying several families. Tens of thousands of road accidents and deaths are caused by drunken driving. Are the legislators of all hues reluctant to enforce prohibition because it is a source of huge revenue? Or that a vast majority of them are themselves regular imbibers of the golden nectar? To come back to the Mumbai dance bars, it is hoped that after the clear and unambiguous order by the highest court in the land the Maharashtra Government will desist creating fresh obstacles against their opening.
Since 2005, successive governments have repeatedly sought to clamp down on the Mumbai dance bars. Each time, the higher courts have voided the ban after rejecting the grounds cited to justify the ban. It is specious, for instance, to argue, as the State did, that the incidence of crime goes up in the vicinity of dance bars. No solid data exist to justify that claim. But, as we said, alcohol is a bigger culprit in this regard, but we are yet to see the State tightening screws on its consumption in the big and small hotel chains. Why, because of the fear that tourists, both foreign and domestic, will avoid hotels which do not have a bar license? Such hypocrisy informs other arguments of the State against the dance bars. It is pleaded that they are a euphemism for pick-up joints and prostitution.
As any college kid would know, every city and small town is rumoured to have certain places, say, a prominent bus-stop or a public park which supposedly serves as a pick-up joint for a certain type of girls. So, is the solution to either flood the area with cops, who will have yet another income-stream, no doubt, or vanish bus stops and parks from our urban landscape? The point is that how people use alcohol or even dance bars is a function of their level of social and moral growth. Not everyone can afford recreational drugs but everyone is aware that if they tried, these are easily accessible. And there is a minuscule section in the upper crust which regularly consumes these drugs.
Try as it might, the State cannot regulate habits of its people. How they live, what they eat, who they socialise with, and how they entertain themselves are issues which are best left alone to individual choices. Dance bars attract people from every social and economic status, depending on the quality and ambience of the bars concerned. It will be enough to ensure that the regular laws and norms applicable to all food and drinking places are enforced and additional measures such as the decibel levels of in-house music, timings etc, are devised to protect the bar girls from unnecessary harassment. The Supreme Court, while voiding the ban, has prescribed that instead of patrons showering money on them, they should tip them as they would serve in regular eating joints.
Like the women working in the film industry, bar girls, too, need to earn to feed their families, or to supplement their families’ income. It is a vocation like any other. Why deny them their basic right? So long as they keep within the bounds of law, they have every right to work. It is hoped the BJP-Shiv Sena government and the Opposition, which in a rare gang-up, have clamped down on dance bars, will not devise newer ways to get round the apex court order and keep dance bars shut. That will be a mockery of the justice system.
