“No boy will marry a girl who comes to the mandap (wedding stage) in jeans.”Satyapal Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development
Yes. This abhorrently sexist statement came from a Human Resource Development Minister while addressing a gathering of students, as per media reports.
*FACEPALM*
The minister, in his effort to educate the young minds on the appropriateness of attire in Indian culture (read ‘moral policing’), made this statement in passing.
After the initial shock and horror, we wondered how our celebrated Budi Bride, who danced to the beats of ‘Cheap Thrills’, donning shorts on her wedding day, would have reacted to this utter nonsense.
Her message is simple:
“Women are free to do what they want to do. They don’t need anyone’s permission.”
For those who came late to the party, earlier in May 2017, a wedding video caught everyone’s attention.
Like all wedding videos, this one too, began with the visuals of a bride getting ready for the event. But unlike all the other traditional videos, here was a bride singing and dancing unabashedly as she got ready. Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ plays in the backdrop as she and her friends geared up to celebrate the special day.
However, this did not go down well with some people on the internet. Trolls had a problem with her wearing shorts or even dancing in them. Others called her ugly, and some even said this isn’t what Indian tradition entails.
So, instead of putting with the nasty comments, she came back with another video to shut them all up.
And well, we couldn’t agree more.
(Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj)
(Bridal Video shot by: CoolBluez Photography)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)