Feminism has changed the world as people knew it and most people would tend to think the change is for the better. But these Indian men think it is nothing but a ruse to divide Indian families and break their values — ultimately leading to weakening the economy and the country. The Save Indian Family Movement, which has 40 regional units, thinks that men in India are in danger — the victim of a neo-Marxist attack that will weaken the country and feminism, they say, is not a proponent of equality but rather promotes division and selfish agendas.
They even organised pujas across India to cast out the demon or pisachini that had been misleading women for the past few years — #MeToo. "Today's feminism has become a movement of convenience and entitlement. Also, you can hurt people who you could not win against fair and square. The #MeToo movement is one such movement," claims Chandra Shekhar Agarwal, the founder of the Karnataka chapter of Save Indian Family.
But do not, even for a second, think that he is your average Hindutva fanatic whom you can dismiss as uneducated or opinionated. Chandra is an IIT graduate and works for one of the top firms in the country. "There are many instances that suggest that these allegations were brought to attract attention. What we understood from this is Me Too was definitely a rakshasi which had come to devour us but it has not been successful. Like the Hirimbas, Putans and Surpanakhas were killed, the Me Too movement is also dead. We, being believers of the Sanatan Dharma, want everyone to find peace — even the Me Too Rakshasi, so that it does not reincarnate and achieve moksha. That's why we did the Me Too pindadanam. The Feminism Pisachini had taken over women and made them do ghostly things like filing false cases and have a wrong sense of entitlement etc," he adds.
The organisation claims to be there for Indian families, not just men. They have a men's helpline and provide mental support to the 200 odd calls the helpline gets in a day, says Chandra. They also provide legal support and a platform for the people who think they have been wronged to share their story. "We listen to the men who call us. In society, man is supposed to be the protector and provider. What happens when he needs protection? We are here for that. We have trained counsellors to help and legal counsel to help deal with the judiciary and the police," says Chandra. "If you are on the side of truth you will prevail. No one can stop you. Laws like Section 498A were brought about only to create a bias. If you see farmer suicides too, more and more men are committing suicide because the narrative has been set in such a way that they are being oppressed in the society," he adds.
Chandra feels that anyone from the Chief Justice of India to a daily wage worker can be victims of the new weapon that is an 'allegation' from women. "We are living in a society where people who come up with the allegations are being put on a very high pedestal. This increases their interest in putting forth an allegation — they are treated like goddesses," he says. Feminism, he and his compatriots feel, is not about equality or harmony in the society at all. "A lot of children who are abused are male and the perpetrators are women. But the feminists never talk about that. They do not mean equality. What they mean is bias towards women irrespective of what they do and a wrong sense of entitlement," adds Chandra.
