By Divya Vijayakumar
Do you feel like you have seen everything in 2016 and are ready for a good long nap? Hang on five minutes.
The winter session of the Odisha State Assembly that began on 5th December has been seized by pandemonium over allegations that women were forced to remove articles of black clothing before being granted admission to attend a gathering led by the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik last week.
The police at a public meeting in Sundergarh on 4th December made women remove their black dupattas and stoles for “security reasons”. Patnaik has expressed shock over the incident and has ordered a probe into the same.
We are still unclear about what was going on. The New Indian Express reports that Opposition chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “The women wearing black sarees were not allowed entry into Patnaik’s meeting.” So, saris also? Not just stoles? Is this a good old-fashioned game of Chinese Whispers?
Wait, there is more. MLA Radharani Panda claimed that these incidents have taken place multiple times in the past, with an occasion where a woman was even ordered to remove her black petticoat.
The government chief whip’s only retort has been to say that it was suspicious that she did not choose to shed light on these accusations at the beginning of the assembly sessions before the controversy gained attention.
Opposition leaders have condemned the fact that the MLA was denied permission to speak whilst poking fun at the chief minister’s terrible fear of the colour – asking whether his next move would be asking men to tonsure their heads so that he need not look at their black hair.
Is Frisking the New Black in Odisha? What’s going on?