On their way to the RSS office in central Delhi’s Jhandewalan, the campaigners had to confront members of another group, namely the Hindu Sena, which had held a counter protest in the same area. The ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign in Delhi consisted of around 60 people – mostly students of the University of Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru University – and they mobilised the entire campaign on Saturday through Facebook posts, said a source. Organisers of the Delhi chapter said that they chose the RSS office because the group had allegedly been ‘denying them public spaces’ to express their affection.
When police came to know about the campaign scheduled at 4 pm in front of the RSS headquarters, the entire stretch from the metro station at Jhandewalan to the RSS office was barricaded. Police also managed to stop around a dozen campaigners from proceeding towards their destination, but the rest of them managed to cross the first level of barricading and later got engaged in a violent confrontation with the members of the group which had organised the counter campaign.
However, the campaigners could not cross the final level of barricading set around 50 metres away from the RSS office, said a police official. He further said police had orders to arrest whosoever tried to get past the final barricading. No campaigner was arrested or detained by the police and the crowd finally dispersed by 7 pm, the official added.
There was severe traffic congestion reported from the area on Saturday evening when the road near the RSS office at Jhandewala was clogged by campaigners. But the congestion was cleared by traffic officials deployed at the spot and smooth traffic was ensured by 6.30 pm, said an official.
The campaign started from Kerala, after youths and activists from all over the state decided to take a stand against moral policing there. They alleged ‘fundamental groups’ in Kerala had upped the level of moral policing which, they believe, could be countered only by a public kissing campaign. The first such campaign was organised at Kochi’s Marine Drive on 2 November. Later, scores of campaigners were detained by the police and a few ended up getting arrested.
When police came to know about the campaign scheduled at 4 pm in front of the RSS headquarters, the entire stretch from the metro station at Jhandewalan to the RSS office was barricaded. Police also managed to stop around a dozen campaigners from proceeding towards their destination, but the rest of them managed to cross the first level of barricading and later got engaged in a violent confrontation with the members of the group which had organised the counter campaign.
However, the campaigners could not cross the final level of barricading set around 50 metres away from the RSS office, said a police official. He further said police had orders to arrest whosoever tried to get past the final barricading. No campaigner was arrested or detained by the police and the crowd finally dispersed by 7 pm, the official added.
There was severe traffic congestion reported from the area on Saturday evening when the road near the RSS office at Jhandewala was clogged by campaigners. But the congestion was cleared by traffic officials deployed at the spot and smooth traffic was ensured by 6.30 pm, said an official.
The campaign started from Kerala, after youths and activists from all over the state decided to take a stand against moral policing there. They alleged ‘fundamental groups’ in Kerala had upped the level of moral policing which, they believe, could be countered only by a public kissing campaign. The first such campaign was organised at Kochi’s Marine Drive on 2 November. Later, scores of campaigners were detained by the police and a few ended up getting arrested.