Women power walk leaves onlookers bewildered

Marching for rights

A group of women participate in Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020. DH PHOTO/AKHIL KADIDAL

A group of women participate in Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020. 

A group of women participate in Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020. In the front are several celebrities taking part in the walk.

A crowd of women participate in Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020. This was taken at Kasturba Road-Vittal Mallaya Road Junction.

Several women participated in ‘Power Walk 2020’ on Sunday night. DH PHOTO/AKHIL KADIDAL

Women hold placards before the start of Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020. The women wearing red is Ashini Nachappa, the lady in blue is athlete Reeth Abraham and the lady in white on the right is actor Suman Nagarkar.

Athlete Reeth Abraham (left) and actor Suman Nagarkar (centre) at the start of Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020.

Athlete Reeth Abraham (centre) and actor Suman Nagarkar at the start of Power 2020 on the night of March 1, 2020.

A large crowd of women marched from the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium to Garuda Mall on Sunday night to promote the idea that women have an equal right to public spaces.

However, the march which barrelled down the main thoroughfares of Kasturba, MG Road and Brigade Road just after 8 pm, left many onlookers confused.

“Is this about Nirbhaya,” asked one young woman at the MG Road-Brigade Road intersection where the marchers formed a circle for about five minutes and shouted slogans such as “March at night, march freely, march with your head up.”

Another group of young men said they believed it was about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The march, titled ‘Power Walk 2020’, was organised by the Karnataka State Commission for Women on the directions of the National Commission for Women in association with the Bengaluru City Police.

Over 200 women were assembled to join the march at Kanteerava stadium, including Isro scientist Nandini Harinath, managing director of Smart City Initiative Hephsiba Rani Kolarpati, Arjuna awardees Reeth Abraham and Ashwini Nachappa, actor Suman Nagarkar and several senior police officers such as Nisha James, DCP, Administration.

The participants were given placards on which they were to write down their reason for marching. Abraham carried a placard reading: “I am marching because I want the city to be a free-spirited place for everyone.” Nachappa wrote: “I am marching because I am a proud and confident woman and because I want others to be inspired.”

Nisha James’ placard announced that she was marching because she wanted to be free of fear, while TED Fellow Jasmeen Patheja said that she was marching because it was her right and because she wanted to “smell the night-blooming flowers”.

Freedom of choice

The crowd of marchers which were largely made up of policewomen ploughed on through mostly darkened roads, with a vanguard of policewomen on motorbikes ensuring that traffic did not plough through the walkers. However, banners and the placards being held by the marchers were not easily legible.

“I would have preferred to have had more women wearing the dresses of their choice, including short skirts, in the march. That would have made it more effective,” said one of the women celebrities taking part in the rally, noting that freedom should not depend on the presence of police.

The rally ended at Garuda Mall on Commissariat Road, after covering a distance of three kilometres.

The participants were scheduled to record their experiences of street sexual harassment on the compound wall on Commissariat Road.