Tamil men win the right to wrap but battle rages elsewhere

Tamil Nadu state legislature passes law ending discrimination against men wearing the traditional Indian 'veshti' in clubs and bars, though bans continue in other places.

The traditional sarong-like wrap for men known variously as a dhoti, veshti or mundu is widely worn in India but deemed unacceptable attire in many establishments and institutions. Danish Siddiqui / ReutersShow less

NEW DELHI // Legislators in Tamil Nadu have struck a blow for men who favour traditional Indian attire, but elsewhere in the country debate continues to rage about dress codes that are seen as a holdover from the British colonial era.

A law passed on Tuesday makes it illegal for clubs and bars in the state to refuse entry to men wearing a veshti, a long rectangle of white cloth that is wrapped around the waist like a sarong.

For years, bars and private clubs in Tamil Nadu have required men wear trousers on their premises – a demand that the state’s chief minister, J Jayalalithaa, called “sartorial despotism”.

Her remark, and the new law, were triggered buy a high court judge being denied entry to a club last month because he was wearing a veshti, even though it is widely worn in southern India and in the north, where it is called a dhoti.

Now, clubs in Tamil Nadu that bar entry to men in Indian dress will be fined 25,000 rupees (Dh1,500) and their officials face one-year jail terms.

However, the official sanction of the veshti though does not extend to all state institutions – while acceptable wear for legislators, it is not permitted in the courts, where judges and lawyers have to wear western suits.

Conflicts over traditional dress in favour of western clothing continue to arise more than 60 years after India gained independence from Britain.

Last year, the Kerala state government ordered auto rickshaw drivers to wear trousers instead of the mundu – a local version of the veshti. “For 20 years, I have driven an auto wearing the mundu,” K Srinivasan, a 49-year-old rickshaw driver in the town of Kalpetta, told The National at the time. “What is wrong with what we have been wearing for so long?”

The rule was introduced because the drivers’ habit of sitting with one leg up might expose them indecently and embarrass female passengers. However, it has not been strictly enforced.

In Kolkata, the British-era Bengal Club does not admit men wearing kurtas, the long, loose shirt worn traditionally with pajama-like trousers. This has prompted regular protests since upper class Bengalis favour the dhoti-kurta combination.

Rules are so strictly enforced that last year, the century-old Gymkhana Club in Delhi turned away a Bhutanese monk – the country’s minister for monastic education – who was the guest of member but was wearing a robe and sandals. The club has in the past turned away an MP for wearing a dhoti.

Women, however, have always been allowed wear traditional clothes: saris or the salwar-kameez, a variation on the male kurta-pajama combination.

In Chennai, many bars ban slippers, sandals, shorts or veshtis.

Dennis Arasu, 41, co-owner of a bar in the Tamil Nadu capital, welcomed the new law, saying veshtis constituted formal wear in the state.

Veshtis were permitted in a bar he worked at earlier, but not shorts or lungis – the bright, informal cousin of the veshti. “The veshti itself was okay, as long as you wore shoes with it, rather than the traditional sandals or slippers,” he said. “It looked funny, I admit.”

Mr Arasu said the dress rules aimed to encourage a certain type of clientele. “They think that it will be, for want of a better word, a ‘sophisticated’ crowd.”

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association – the club that barred entry to the judge – cited a more practical reason. The veshti ban, officials told the media, “is to prevent wardrobe malfunction under the influence of alcohol, nothing else”.

Tamil Nadu’s veshti law would, strictly speaking, not hold up in court, said V V Sivakumar, a Chennai-based lawyer. “Private clubs cannot be regulated by such laws. Tomorrow, I can start a club that only allows, as its members, men who are over 60 and were once journalists, for example. But nobody can accuse me of discrimination.”

But no club was likely to challenge the new law in court, he said. “It would reflect badly on them, and they wouldn’t want to risk that.”