Twitter erupted yesterday with news of Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister of Goa, saying that he is scared of girls drinking beer. Liberals were quick to condemn the Chief Minister and trend pictures of themselves drinking beer under the hashtags #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer and #GirlsDrinkingBeer.
https://twitter.com/TedhiLakeer/status/962223268353757184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
However, the full quote by the Chief Minister shows that Manohar Parikkar was perhaps speaking of the larger drug menace and it was an innocuous remark made in the context of his larger observations. The audio clip shows that the remark was made in jest with regards to changes our society has undergone and it was perceived as such by the audience.
The usual knee-jerk reaction from certain sections to innocuous comments without understanding the proper context in which it was spoken has become increasingly prevalent in recent times. A rough translation of the speech, by a Twitter user who goes by the handle ‘@ThisPosable‘, is as follows.
Manohar Parrikar clearly says there has always been a group of students in schools and colleges who would watch porn and smoke marijuana. He then goes on to say now even girls have begun consuming beer which scares him as tolerance limits are being crossed. The context here is of school and college children hence it may be construed that Parrikar was in fact referring to girls in schools and collegese. He also quite clearly speaks critically of the group of boys who used to indulge in such behaviour at schools and colleges who are underaged.
This statement clearly indicates that his issue probably wasn’t with girls drinking beer, but underage boys, and now underage girls, indulging in substance abuse.
Regardless of our political inclination, we can at least agree that more and more youth consuming alcohol and drugs is not something to be encouraged or glorified.