Live and let Valentine’s live, says VHP

Right-wing groups who have been known to play spoilsport each Valentine's Day have said that this year they will let 14 Feb pass and only launch a helpline for women in distress from Wednesday.

‘There will be no protests or demonstrations against Valentine's Day. At the same time, youngsters should behave decently. As a new initiative this year, we have started a new helpline 011-23616372 to help women in distress. We will provide all support to such women,’ Vinod Bansal, spokesperson, Viswa Hind Parishad (VHP), said.

The right-wing groups said they had no objections to the celebrations of Valentine's Day. ‘We used to tell young couples to get married, otherwise we would hand them over to police or parents. For the past few years, we have suppressed our opposition to Valentine's Day celebrations. We don't want our young people to ape the West and bring disgrace on our culture,’ Ravindra Negi, a RSS activist said, as he handed out flyers at Connaught Place, asking young people to refrain from celebrating Valentine's Day.

In the past, Hindu radicals usually kept vigil at parks, restaurants and other places on the day, and occasionally went on the rampage, attacking pubs and greeting card shops to prevent young people from celebrating the special day dedicated to love.