A pre-poll <i>divas</i>

On Saturday, several schools in Delhi that claim to be affiliated to Vidya Bharati, the education wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, organised “Matru-Pitru Divas”, or mother’s-father’s day. Geeta Bal Bharati, a school in east Delhi invited paternal and maternal grandparents of students to the school to felicitate them. Other Vidya Bharati-affiliated schools held similar events. The “Matru-Pitru Divas” was planned as an answer to Valentine’s Day, which, according to the Hindu right wing, is a westernised celebration of romantic love, and therefore decadent. This time, Valentine’s Day falls not only on a working day — Tuesday — but also on the eve of the second phase of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and the single phase of elections in Uttarakhand.