Politics sure makes strange bedfellows, especially when Assembly elections are not too far away. After the shadowy Lashkar-e-Jabbar organisation tried to enforce purdah on the women of the Kashmir Valley, it’s the turn of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch to dictate morality, this time in an Uttaranchal town.
Their activists have been telling women not to visit Kotdwar’s male tailors — who are predominantly Muslim — and give them specifications for clothes to be tailored.
The activists, who claim they are reacting to complaints, advise that the women instead hand over old clothes for measurements. Or, if they must visit the tailor, be accompanied by a woman escort.
Tailors have been ordered to paste these instructions at their places of work. Beauticians, barbers and hairdressers have also been told to employ only female staff. There are around 20 tailors and 30 beauty parlours in this town in Pauri Garhwal.

Sandhya Joshi and her sister Reeta learnt about this diktat the hard way, when they visited Kotdwar for Diwali. On November 7, they were with their family tailor, who has been stitching their clothes for 20 years. Even as he was taking measurements, Hindu Jagran Manch activists landed up there.
‘‘We told the activists not to enforce their Taliban-style farman (order) on the women of Uttaranchal. If we can win Uttaranchal for these people, we are strong enough to take care of ourselves,’’ blistered Sandhya Joshi. Rishi Kandwal, state president of Bajrang Dal who is a Kotdwar resident, claimed that the organisation had received complaints against male tailors.
In fact, local police even registered an anonymous complaint last month from a woman, alleging harassment by one Arif Siddiqui, who runs three beauty parlours in the town. Siddiqui was detained by police for three days, but the address given by complainant turned out to be fictitious.
‘‘We received a complaint, but the complainant could not be found,’’ Mukesh Chauhan, Deputy Superintendent of Police at Kotdwar, told The Indian Express.
The ‘‘complaint’’, though, was pretext enough for Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch activists to ransack Siddiqui’s parlour. However, the police have made no arrests. Anil Kumar Yadav, Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Kotdwar, said he was trying to resolve the issue through dialogue. ‘‘I have called a meeting of the people involved, including Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch leaders, on November 19,’’ he said.