Contending that caste inequalities cannot be abolished by encouraging “love marriages”, PMK founder S. Ramadoss had recently written to various political party leaders offering five suggestions to ensure the safety and security of women.
Quoting Dravidian social reformer Periyar E V Ramasamy to underline that there was nothing special about falling in love, Dr. Ramadoss suggested that the legal age of marriage be raised to 21 for women.
Alternatively, he said parental consent must be made mandatory for legitimising love marriages involving girls aged below 21 years as suggested by the Karnataka High Court five years ago.
Expectedly a cross-section of society has refused to endorse the PMK’s suggestions. “Yes, Periyar wrote that there was no need to glorify love. However, he had also said that if two persons are intimately in love they are entitled to live together and no one can interfere in their life,” says A. Arulmozhi, propaganda secretary, Dravidar Kazhagam.
Agreeing that inter-caste marriages alone may not be enough to create a casteless society, she said this would be possible if couples can bring up kids without the tag of religion or caste.
“The solution does not lie in giving up love marriages,” she said and added that caste leaders must state what they are doing to promote education among women and end dowry and other evils such as wife-beating.
CPI State secretary R. Mutharasan said while there was no disagreement that safety and security of women must be ensured, “The PMK in the garb of women’s safety is trying to isolate Dalit community. Dr. Ramadoss says that that he is not against inter-caste marriages, but some of his actions don’t make him appear that way.”
Madras High Court retired judge Justice K. Chandru said, “We live in a society where even well-educated people marry girls when they are minors. When we can’t ensure that women are married off only when they turn 18, what is the point of increasing the marriageable age to 21? Dr. Ramadoss is trying to impose his ideas of opposing inter-caste marriage.”
Responding to criticisms, PMK spokesperson K. Balu said that it was unfortunate that the “progressives” are attacking PMK for calling for an increase in marriageable age to 21.
“There have been several cases where a girl who fell in love at 17 gets married as soon as she turns 18. She gets married without any maturity about life in general and marriage in particular. If the legal age is increased to 21, the girl will also have time to complete her [college] education and decide on whether to continue the relationship that she might have got into when she was a teenager,” he contended.
He reiterated that the PMK was not against love or inter-caste marriages. “We are only saying that women should study when they have to.
The system of caste oppression will not disappear through love marriages. It will only be solved through social and economic growth and through education,” he argued.
