Barmaids revolt as Hindu coalition aims to curtail Bombay's nightlife

AN AIR of prudery is being forced upon India, the land of the Kama Sutra, by officials striving to re arm the country morally through denial and abstinence.

Prohibition was introduced into the hard drinking, northern state of Haryana last month. In the western Indian city of Bombay (or Mumbai), over 10,000 barmaids and cabaret artists have threatened to solicit customers on the streets, if the state government implements a 40 year old law and shuts all bars by 8.30 every evening.

"All our customers come after 11 p.m. and it is only then that we can earn some money" said Babita, the "empress" of the Raj Mahal bar, at a demonstration organised against their closure in downtown Bombay.

She said the arbitrary decision to close the bars, most of which are in the suburbs and cater to industrial workers, would deprive many of their families of any income. She also hinted it might lead the unemployed girls to take to prostitution.

Ever since coming to power two years ago, the state's Hindu fundamentalist coalition government of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to "purify" Bombay, a vibrant city with a bustling red light area, lively bars and restaurants, open till the early hours.

Shiv Sena Bal Thackeray (72), the most powerful man in the state, wants to introduce a statewide ban on alcohol, invoke a 40 year old labour law which prohibits women from working in bars or restaurants after 8 p.m., and introduce compulsory military service.

He is ably supported by state cultural minister Pramod Navalkar, busy pursuing an anti obscenity crusade which has targeted most activities involving drink and popular entertainment.

But the barmaids, supported by their bar owners, are not going, to take the proposed ban lying down. They plan a series of demonstrations across Bombay, hoping to embarrass the government into revoking the order or at least allowing them to function till midnight.

Many barmaids scoffed at the idea that the government was clamping down on the bars out of concern for morality and the safety of women. According to one barmaid, the police harassed them more than the customers did.

Meanwhile, a New Delhi judge has banned adult movies on state owned television, even as most of India continues to breathe heavily on a diet of steamy American soap operas and rock video programmes beamed by private cable operators.

The judge also made it compulsory for all programmes including serials and advertisements to obtain a "universal" certificate from the censorship board.

But most social commentators agree that such moves will hardly improve morals, as Indians have a notoriously ambivalent attitude towards matters sexual.

"On the one hand there is the cult of the Kama Sutra and erotic temple carvings and on the other prudery, hypocrisy and lip service to the ideal of chastity," said one social observer.

Indians, he said, had "sex on their minds, lust in their eyes but fear in their hearts".

. An old inn used as a base by Mahatma Gandhi to lead an Indian movement against British rule is being demolished to make way for a hotel.

Mr Brijesh Mishra, district head of Bettiah in the eastern state of Bihar, said a trust which owned the building has sold its rights to a private firm.