In the age of Digital India where smartphones have penetrated into rural areas, the Thakors, who come under the OBC category, have adopted a resolution banning use of mobile phones by unmarried girls in 12 villages of North Gujarat.
The villages are in Dantewada taluka of Banaskantha district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has propagated Digital India and cashless transactions, also hails from North Gujarat.
At a recent meeting of the Thakor community, the resolution adopted also bans DJs, horses and firecrackers during weddings and intercaste marriages. The resolution specifies fines on parents of people who engage in intercaste marriages.
The nine-point resolution states that if a girl from the Thakor community marries a boy from some other community, then the girl's parents will have to pay a fine of Rs 1.50 lakh. In case a boy from a Thakor community marries a girl from another community, the boy's parents will have to pay a penalty of Rs 2 lakh.
The people of the Thakor community have been encouraged to give money in weddings instead of gifts to avoid wasteful expenditure.
Parents would be held responsible if an unmarried girl is found using a mobile phone and they would have to pay a fine. According to the Thakors, the idea of banning the use of mobile phones is to see that young girls concentrate on studies and do not waste time on social media.
Thakor leader Alpesh Thakor, who has been advocating de-addiction and improvement of education standards, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him.
Suresh Thakor, one of the members of the community's governing body, is on record to state that the community would give laptops and tablets to girls, so that they can concentrate on studies.
Dhavalsinh Jhala, a close aide of Alpesh, who is also to join the BJP along with him, told THE WEEK that the ways of functioning of these 12 villages are “different”. Jhala, also a Thakor, said the area where these villages are located does not fall under his jurisdiction.
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Feigning ignorance about the circumstances why these decisions were taken, Jhala said that mobile phones should be banned if they came in the way of education. However, it should be banned for young boys also, Jhala added. According to him, the youngsters should be given ordinary mobile phones, so that they can reach out to their parents in case of any emergency.
Ahmedabad-based sociologist, Gaurang Jani, observed that all these things are about the identity of the caste. These days, when the girls get educated, they fear that what will happen to the boys of their caste if the girls marry outside the caste.
Jani pointed out that we may well be celebrating 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi but the fact remains that there has been no social reform after him.
The resolution found support from Geniben Thakor, Congress MLA from Vav. She is on record to state that she receives distress calls from parents whose daughters have run away with boys of other communities.
