What does World Environment Day have to do with women’s attire? Slow fashion, maybe — but that doesn’t seem to have been on Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s mind when he made remarks at a tree planting gathering in Indore on this occasion, which have since drawn criticism.
Vijayvargiya has been quoted as having repeatedly commented on women’s sartorial choices, with statements including, “It is said there (abroad) that just as a girl wearing less clothing is beautiful, similarly a leader giving a short speech is also very good. There is such a saying in foreign countries, but I do not follow it.” and “I do not like (women) wearing less clothes. Many a time, girls come to take selfies with me. I tell them they should come by wearing good clothes and then get a selfie clicked with me.” The remarks appear to have been well-received at the event, inspiring laughter among the audience.
Vijayvargiya’s statement probably refers to a quote attributed to former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.” The original quote is severely objectifying in and of itself; its reference here in contemporary India, even in the form of a rebuttal in form though not in spirit, is equally problematic.
What are “good clothes?” Some definition of this exists across Indian families, educational institutes, workplaces, public spaces, online interfaces and just about every imaginable zone, tangible or otherwise. While men are judged on appearance too, along the lines of caste, class, and gender nonconformity, for women, the gaze rarely stops at judgment. Controlling a woman’s wardrobe is one of many common, classic ways to reinforce power over her. When people in power do so — even through what appear to be flippant jokes — the effect can be pervasively oppressive.
Style is many things: expression, armour or invitation among them, certainly, but if anyone can be attributed agency, it is the wearer who decides what an outfit is meant to convey. Beholders have the prerogative of averting their gaze, if they prefer. But the concept that clothing is about the wearer, and not the beholder, is one that holds very little sway in the Indian context. Here, to choose what to wear can itself be an act of defiance, and be weaponised against the wearer too.
It must also be said: Vijayvargiya chose to use a completely unrelated event to sermonise on policing women’s apparel, which in any situation would be inappropriate, but also specifically detracted from the messaging of World Environment Day. Amid this debacle, I wonder how the tree planting went. I wish a tree could be planted every time anyone in this country said something sexist, but I’d settle for a tree being planted every time a politician or judge said something sexist instead. Reforestation in India would be swift and grand as a result, no doubt. Protecting the environment is a worthy cause, perhaps the worthiest of all — for all life depends on it — one we cannot lose sight of even as we fight other battles.