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UP CM favours ban on beauty contests

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Raj Nath Singh is least impressed by the fact that an Uttar Pradesh girl won the Miss World crown. He is contemplating a complete ban on all beauty contests in the state.

A strong believer in the traditional values, the 49-year old Singh considers beauty pageants as nothing more than vulgar displays. "There is no place for such vulgarity in our society under my regime," he said at a function in Mathura on Sunday.

"All the kind of beauty contests that are being held these days have nothing but vulgarity, which is intolerable," he told rediff.com adding, "I will direct all district magistrates to ensure that such shows do not take place anymore."

With Raj Nath Singh enjoying a reputation of being a man of his word, it is unlikely that UP will witness any more beauty shows - at least till he is at the helm.

While several self-styled 'event management groups' and beauty contest organisers are upset by the chief minister's announcement, there were others who consider such a ban 'appropriate'.

"Some small time groups had sprung up over the recent past to mint money through beauty contests. Many of them were allegedly exploiting young teen-aged aspirants," observed a senior police officer.

"Not one of them has any kind of linkage with leading organisers at the national level. This could have prompted the chief minister to take such a drastic step," he added.

"There has been a mushrooming of beauty contests in mohallas and lanes all over the state. Contestants are misled by promises of these contests being the gateways to bigger opportunities at the national level," he said.

Moreover, participants allege that most of the contests in Lucknow were 'fixed'.

A recent beauty pageant held last week, which crowned its own 'Miss North India', drew a lot of flak when participants discovered that the organisers had already made up their mind about the winner.

"The show was only meant to promote an individual. To give it the air of authenticity, participants had been called from moffussil towns in UP and even Delhi," alleged an agitated participant.

She even claimed that the Delhi participant's selection as the runner-up was also 'fixed'.

"Decent families keep their daughters away from such contests," remarked Sunita Aron, a senior journalist, who feels that under the prevailing circumstances, a ban on such contests was not uncalled for.

However, not everyone was impressed by Singh's concern.

"Let Raj Nath Singh first reform the rogues in his council of ministers then talk about cleaning up society," commented Kanchan, a housewife.

Gunjan Gupta of GEE Academy, Viresh Varma of Zenith Event Managers and Aruna Saksena of Fantasies Event Management were among those who expressed displeasure at the chief minister's announcement.

It is learnt that the affected groups were moving heaven and earth to persuade the chief minister to reverse his decision. But knowing Singh's firm temperament, it seems unlikely that he would bow down to the pressure.

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