Pasha under scanner, nobody’s sure why

Gilada has already got in touch with political heavyweights like Khanvilkar and Chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission Nirmala Prabhavalkar, who will both be investigating the matter.

It is painfully obvious even before all the political wrangling, that Pasha, with his mysterious HIV/AIDS status and sexual antics, is getting Mumbaiites’ full attention. He has been surreptitiously hijacked and adopted by other AIDS who’s who. Kirit Somaiya, MP, in his campaign, has spun off a soft porn flick and has even had activists and NGOs heavily debating what Pasha should actually be saying.

Some have even expressed concern over the type and context of the message which Pasha — supposedly the Indian male metaphor — is giving out. Organisations which deal with drug problems and work closely with the gay population are also concerned about their exclusion from the overall Pasha campaign.

‘‘It is all good that this Pasha fellow could be of any religion since his name is Balbir Pasha. But what about the victimisation of women named ‘Manjula’ and the implication that women sleep around, when it is men who are usually irresponsible? The NGO handling this campaign should have restricted Pasha to red light areas instead of generalising. But it is nevertheless a bad campaign,’’ says Gilada.

‘‘It is brilliant that people are coming up with these suggestions and objections. In the past 10 days alone, since we put up the small strip below the ad displaying the helpline number, we have received over 300 calls. We have not got any feedback so far about the campaign being anti-anything,’’ says Dr Shilpa Merchant, project director of Population Services International (PSI), the NGO handling the Pasha campaign in Mumbai as part of the USAID-sponsored Operation Lighthouse, launched across 12 major port towns in India.

Several activists The Indian Express spoke to were either indifferent or had their own ideas about the range of messages Pasha should be giving. Many feel the campaign should have been introduced five years ago, when talking about unsafe sex in the ‘‘AIDS capital’’ was most uncomfortable.

Khanvilkar has already told Principal Secretary (Health) Navin Kumar to conduct a probe into the matter. The Public Health Department has, in turn, written to PSI for more information on the nature of future advertisements.