The author of that unforgettable slogan, “Go Corona, go”, has emerged afresh as a champion of wives. The Union minister of state for social justice, Ramdas Athawale, demanded that a Wife’s Day be earmarked alongside Mother’s Day. This acknowledgment of the many roles of a woman from a member of the Establishment is perfectly thrilling. Recognising the wife means that a woman is not just a machine to produce offspring — sons would be best — but has a distinct role as partner and beloved. Or was Mr Athawale acknowledging something else? He declared that behind every ‘successful man’ there is a woman. This is quite a leap backwards. Mr Athawale has pulled out of his metaphorical hat a musty old saying from the times when it was scandalous for an ankle to peep out from beneath a flouncy hemline. Not satisfied with the effect, he added that a wife stands by her husband in both good and adverse times. Rewarding wives with a celebratory day for supporting their successful men is no doubt an aspect of social justice.

Not gender justice though. The ideal wife is always ‘behind’, always ‘standing by’ her husband. There is no successful woman, no husband expected to support his wife in a difficult career, perhaps, or an unusual adventure. She will be celebrated as long as she plays second fiddle. The old-fashioned notion of the ideal ‘Bhartiya Nari’ — Sita, not Draupadi — sprang fully dressed, like Minerva, from Mr Athawale’s head, only trying to look different. But the minister’s famed originality did not work here. Wife Appreciation Day is celebrated in the United States of America since 2006 on the third Sunday of September. Not to be outdone, husbands have their own Husband’s Day on the third Saturday in April and, to take gender equality a step further, there is also a National Couples’ Day in August. That may not turn out to be too popular in India, because any hint of love tips the aggressive switch in roaming groups vigilant in the preservation of ‘Indian culture’. But a minister of state is welcoming Wife’s Day, so that may pass muster.

Celebrating women — International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day, even Wife’s Day if it comes about — is a neat cover-up in many countries of the blood, sweat, tears and felt violence of women’s lived experience. The contrast between celebration and everyday life for women is particularly stark in India. The situation is now such that pro-women laws and oily assertions of the greatness of women, often with a background thrumming with the worship of powerful female deities, can no longer disguise the daily tyranny to which numerous women are subject and the hideous violence they face inside and outside the home. A Wife’s Day would be welcome only if a wife’s rights, her autonomy and privacy, are acknowledged and accepted. Mr Athawale was probably not thinking about that.