Kiss of Love spirit lingers on, insist activists

Rahul and Reshmi are held by the police in a statewide crackdown on Tuesday against sex trade including trafficking of children.

The Kiss of Love protest was the culmination of a series of activities against gender bias, moral policing and the culture of intolerance, activists told reporters here on Friday.

The spirit of the Kiss of Love movement is against fascism and it would continue to have relevance, said Advocate Harish Vasudevan. The arrest of Rahul and Reshmi will not have any impact on the relevance of the movement as nobody has anointed them as the leaders of KoL, he said.

The attention of the media is diverted from the actual problems of sex trade and paedophilia prevailing in the society in the wake of the arrest of the two, said Jolly Chirayath, a social activist. She said that the media was largely responsible for creating the impression that Rahul was the leader of the KoL.

The activists also issued a statement decrying the attempt to denigrate the Kiss of Love movement by right-wing groups following the arrests.

The statement was signed by J. Devika of the Centre for Development Studies, Kavitha Krishnan of the All Indi Progressive Women's Association, Aswathy Senan of Delhi University and several others.