RSS says Supreme Court right in sticking with section 377

The hardening of stances on the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a Delhi High Court order decriminalising parts of section 377 dealing with consensual same-sex relationships continued on Monday with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) declaring that they supported the Supreme Court’s decision.

In that, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said, the RSS was with the BJP which had already declared that homosexuality was “unnatural.” “The BJP has made its stand clear, we are in line with their views and support the decision of the SC on section 377,” he said. Later on micro blogging site Twitter, Ram Madhav clarified that “377 is about unnatural relationship. There can be a debate over the Section as proposed by BJP.” This, BJP leaders say was a response to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj’s contention that since the SC had left it to the legislature to decide on the matter, an all-party meeting could be considered.

In fact, in the immediate aftermath of the SC decision, many senior BJP leaders were in favour of decriminalising gay sex. Party treasurer and Rajya Sabha MP Piyush Goyal had in fact said that same-sex relationships should be decriminalised. Others had voiced their opinion less publicly. That was of course before BJP president Rajnath Singh declared that he considered homosexuality unnatural.

As of now, the Congress while regretting that the high court order decriminalising gay sex has been struck down, has not proposed any concrete steps to address the issue. The hardening of the principal Opposition’s stand is not good news for activists.