What The Tanishq Ad Controversy? This Tanishq controversy reminds us about 2 things.
1. The political environment of our country.
2. The importance of marriage in our society.
And also, Love marriages are very much restricted and challenged.
Most of us, marry within our social group – Cast or Religion.
And, this is common. Researchers mention that despite India’s development over the last 30 years, inter-caste and inter-religious marriages have not increased in number.
Researchers mention about 3 levels of challenges to such marriages.
1. Individual level.
2. Family level.
3. Society level.
on an individual level, people think twice before such marriages. Because we have been used to the usual way of marriage in society. So, we have created such in our minds. As a result, when we go against such rules, we almost feel guilty.
The next level is the family – Since our family influences our lives in many ways, the family has too many options ” to punish us “. Such options could include violence, too.
The final level of challenge is society – just like our family, society has several options to punish us. It could be violence, as seen in the cases of the village.
Sometimes, these options could be non-violent, too. like people of society could force the couple to leave the village. And our govt. has also admitted that no such cases of Love Jihad have been reported. Researcher Charu Gupta had written a research paper about Love jihad in 2009. She compared the Love Jihad campaign with the 1920’s Arya Amaj campaign. Some slogans used in such campaigns were ” Aurato Ki Loot”. ” Hindu striyon ki loot ka Karan”. Such campaigns are not just against a religious community but are also against women due to 2 reasons.
1. They start assuming that women need to be treated as a commodity because they cannot decide on their own. So, she might have fallen into someone’s trap – in the name of interfaith marriages.
2. Such campaigns send a message. That a family’s honor is dependent on a girl’s life. Such problems are not just limited to inter-religious marriages but also inter-caste marriages. Our society is structured in such a way that it is very difficult for an inter-caste or inter-religious marriage, to happen. Due to this, our society has to face a lot many problems.
According to research, The importance of one’s caste has existed for nearly 3,000 years. And, people have been marrying within the same caste for 3,000 years. The biggest consequence of this is the lack of genetic diversity. This means that we have been recycling the same genes. As a result, any genetic defect in a caste group Could amplify by continuing to marry within the same caste group. The genetic defect would continue being passed on to the next generations.
According to experts, people from this community have been marrying only within their community for several years, to preserve their wealth. As a result, this genetic defect has been continuously passed on. The lack of inter-religious marriages is a reflection of our society. People from different religious groups interact very less with each other. Similarly, research from other countries shows that this religious and caste divide could greatly affect India’s growth. This religious and caste divide could greatly affect India’s growth. despite the huge social pressure, there are stories of many couples who have been happily married.
So Friends, this was all about What The Tanishq Ad Controversy.
