The Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on Saturday decided to educate youngsters on the ‘dangers’ of celebrating events like Valentine's Day. It distributed booklets on discourses given by Swami Vivekananda, which spoke about the harmful effects of amalgamating the so-called western culture.

Speaking on their ‘non-violent idea’ to do away with the Valentine’s Day tradition, Murli Mohol, city president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha said, “We want the youth of the city to see for themselves the harmful effects of western culture. So we distributed booklets on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, where he has emphasised the adverse effects of blindly following the western culture.”

BJYM members went to several colleges to distribute these booklets. Close to 2000 booklets in English and Hindi were distributed all over the city. As many as 100 BJYM members distributed the booklets at Fergusson College. “All we are doing is urging the youth to take a look at the pearls of wisdom mentioned in the booklet. With all that has happened in Mumbai last year, is it right for the youth to celebrate these festivals, which incidentally are not even a part of our culture? If we can get the youth of the city to read booklets like these, which clearly show the distinction between following such traditions blindly and questioning these virtues which are derogatory to our culture, then we will have won the battle against these alien cultures.” Preeti Samant (name changed), a student said, “We appreciate the fact that this year the so-called moral police of the society have not resorted to vandalising card shops and flower stalls. Infact, this is a quieter campaign. However after having read the book I have not come across any paragraph, which specifically says that Valentine’s Day is a terrible tradition and must not be followed. One of the few things that I have still not understood is how is celebrating a simple festival detrimental to our culture.”

Another student Neeraj Goel (name changed) said, “Maybe giving out books like these makes some sense but isn’t the Indian culture all about assimilation of other traditions as their own. Then why is everyone making a hue and cry about this particular day? Hopefully the people who are campaigning against this day will have some solid reasons to support their claims.”