In October 2012, VHP activists protested against Union minister Jairam Ramesh's remark that "India needed more toilets than temples ", by urinating outside his official residence, and sharing the pictures on social media.
The fact that millions of Indians are forced to defecate in the open because they lack of toilets in their homes should be a matter of shame for all of us. If Indians can get together to raise money to build tiny temples everywhere – on the streets, in forests, on remote mountainsides – why can’t they get together to build toilets?
Women suffer more than men because the average Indian male feels no shame in turning every single public space into a urinal, whereas women have to control themselves until they reach a public toilet.
In rural India, the risk of infection and illness from open defecation is very high, with millions of children suffering from diarrhea every year.
Indians were wounded by the line in V.S. Naipaul’s travelogue An Area of Darkness, published in 1964: “Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate, mostly, beside the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the riverbanks.”
Mr. Ramesh called India the world capital of open defecation. “It is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow and anger,” he said. This shame will continue until all Indians have a toilet in their homes.
Modi happened to use the same toilet statement during his recent election camaigns. And there is nobody protesting outside his house this time.
The fact that millions of Indians are forced to defecate in the open because they lack of toilets in their homes should be a matter of shame for all of us. If Indians can get together to raise money to build tiny temples everywhere – on the streets, in forests, on remote mountainsides – why can’t they get together to build toilets?
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| Life beside the tracks in India: Open defecation remains the only option for hundreds of millions of impoverished people (Reuters) |
In rural India, the risk of infection and illness from open defecation is very high, with millions of children suffering from diarrhea every year.
Indians were wounded by the line in V.S. Naipaul’s travelogue An Area of Darkness, published in 1964: “Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate, mostly, beside the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the riverbanks.”
Mr. Ramesh called India the world capital of open defecation. “It is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow and anger,” he said. This shame will continue until all Indians have a toilet in their homes.
Modi happened to use the same toilet statement during his recent election camaigns. And there is nobody protesting outside his house this time.
