This is a screen grab
If we ever had to categorise our country’s politicians, it should be according to public statements they made rather than their party ideologies. That, in fact, may even make more sense to the reader. After all, Congress or BJP, CPI or SP, they all make statements that bear no connection to their party ideology. Maybe we should categorise them as ‘ineffective’, ‘insensitive’, ‘bizarre’, ‘weird’ and the fifth category would be ‘plain nonsense’.
So which of these categories would CPI leader Atul Anjan fall under? The senior leader recently said that Sunny Leone’s condom advertisements will lead to a rise in the number of rapes in India. “Sunny Leone naam ki ek aurat hai. Duniya ki sabse nangi filmon ki woh heroine rahi hai (There is a woman called Sunny Leone. She has been the heroine in nude films),” said Anjan, as he began his rant against the actress.
Anjan then referred to a condom ad, which featured Sunny Leone and said, “Agar condom ki is tarah ke prachaar desh ke television aur akhbaaron mein chale, toh rape ki ghatnaaein badhengi (If such condom ads are shown on the country’s television sets and in newspapers, then the number of rape incidents will increase).”
The CPI leader did not stop there. He also said that the condom ad “developed sexuality,” as if that is a sin. Ironically, Anjan added that an ad which encourages people to practise safe sex “destroys your sensibility.”
It’s a matter for alarm that a staggering number of Indian politicians and leaders consider it perfectly all right to make ridiculous statements on sexual assault and sexuality. It was only two weeks ago that Mulayam Singh Yadav said that ‘Rape by four men is impractical.’ He has also earlier dismissed the gravity of rape by saying, ‘Boys will be boys. They make mistakes.’ As if that was not enough, we have parliamentary records of this really creepy statement made by MP Sharad Yadav – “Who amongst us has not followed girls?”
The ad itself, released last year by Manforce, shows Sunny Leone on an isolated beach, dressed in a bathing suit and bikini cover-up, partaking of some carnal pleasure on the beach with her partner and a condom pack suddenly appears on the screen.
Like all Indian condom ads, this one too only implies sex rather than actually showing it, for obvious reasons. Sure, instead of sticking to standard visuals of a fire raging on-screen to imply passion, we see Leone doing some exaggerated hand and body movements to imply pleasure. In fact, it implies that despite the raging passions and seductive location, the couple still practise safe sex – and it doesn’t get better or more obvious than that.
This is hardly worth inciting a bevy of villagers during a public rally, which is exactly what Atul Anjan did. After all, if a condom ad doesn’t imply sex, what else will? Perhaps our politicians would like the ad better if the man was to be seen groaning in ecstasy – ‘that is exactly what nature intended’ – they might say.
Or better yet – stick to old fashioned methods. Just show two flowers dancing with each other.
The crowning glory was when Anjan said that he had never watched a single porn film in his life. But when he did watch porn for the first time, “do minute dekhne ke baad ulti hoti hai (After watching for two minutes, I felt like vomiting).”
Yeah right! We totally believe that!
Check out the Manforce More condom ad here:
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