Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Right to prescribe dress code' that was published in Newsband

Right to prescribe dress code

A Chennai club recently denied admission to a Madras High Court judge as he was wearing a dhoti. This club requires men to wear shirts with collars, trousers, and shoes or closed sandals or at times lounge suits. This episode in Chennai provoked sharp responses from across the political spectrum and the Tamil Nadu government promised to bring a new law against dress regulations in social clubs that discriminated against Indian attire.

But how can the government do that? Clubs are private organisations where members have the right to set their own rules on their premises. Why only Clubs? Many religious organisations also prescribe dress code to enter temples, like the one at Trivandrum, wherein our President had to remove his shirt and tie up a Mundu around his waist to enter the temple. What about pilgrims going to Sabarimalai and other religious places? Many public places do have their sartorial code and if one wishes to make use of these public places, then one must respect the code and abide by their rules.

Social clubs can't be held blamed for this act as they are operated by a private person. Private person is fully under his constitutional rights to set certain rules and regulations to be followed if others want to be a part of his/her organization. If people have problem with it in any manner, they are free not to join it.

Rules framed by private organizations such as clubs cannot be analyzed under the scanner of discrimination just because they demand a particular dress code unless the intent behind such a rule is meant to discriminate. In this case, some argue that it discriminates against Tamilians, which it surely does not. There is no rule by the said club that it is meant only for non-Tamils.

Tamil activists, political parties and legislators need not become too emotional on this issue. Threat by the Tamilnadu Chief Minister to come down heavily on the private club in Chennai is avoidable, dictatorial and bad in law. That she will cancel the license and close the club is high handed. Any private association, club or gathering should have the right to have its own rules and regulations regarding its members. Members willingly subscribe to abide their generally accepted norms. If the club or association invites somebody or members take guests they should be informed of the rules in advance.

In the present case the Chief Minister may have her way due to her clout make the club to kneel and crawl. But if the matter is taken to court her action may not stand the test of law.

While the topic of colonial era rules in elite private clubs crops every now and then, the more pressing concern is the frequency with which the term 'dress-code' is used in modern Indian society. The victims are almost always women who merely wish to partake in the comfort and practicality of the trousers-and-shirt. Our society insists that Indian culture is at stake if women do off with the salwar-kameez or saree for a more practical and inarguably more modest trousers and shirt, while the men are allowed to be more mobile and comfortable, and more 'western' while perpetrating this social injustice. Perhaps it is more important to take up the issue of the discrimination that the average woman is subjected to everyday.