It’s not every day that Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world, finds itself at the centre of a controversy. But that’s exactly what happened last week when auditions for the Miss Rishikesh beauty pageant spiralled into a cultural tug-of-war, one that’s got the whole country talking.

What is the Rishikesh pageant controversy?

ऋषिकेश में कल का दिन हंगामों से भरा रहा। देहरादून रोड स्थित एक होटल में जहां नगर निगम की बोर्ड बैठक के दौरान पार्षदों ने विकास कार्य न होने पर एजेंडा के पर्चे हवा में उछालते हुए विरोध किया, वहीं उसी होटल के दूसरे हॉल में मिस ऋषिकेश ऑडिशन के बीच हिंदू संगठनों ने वेस्टर्न परिधानों… pic.twitter.com/o98UitNNCe

— Kumaon Jagran (@KumaonJagran) October 4, 2025

On Friday, members of a right-wing group, Rashtriya Hindu Shakti Sangathan, barged into a hotel and disrupted the audition for the annual Miss Rishikesh competition, part of a Diwali fair organised by the Lions Club Royal. Young women, dressed in western outfits, were practising their ramp walks when the group stormed in, demanding that the show be stopped immediately.

Their leader, Raghavendra Bhatnagar, claimed the event was “against the culture of Uttarakhand” and “against Sanatan Dharma”. What followed was a heated exchange between the leader and one of the participants. The RHSS group also recorded videos of the contestants, which further angered them. Bhatnagar went on a moral tirade, even accusing the contestants of being “bad influences” who inspire women to “run away from home.”

“Clothes don’t define culture”

The contestants, however, didn’t back down. Some spoke up, pointing out the obvious: clothes don’t define culture. They reminded the protesters that this was a voluntary, family-supported event meant to empower young women and offer them opportunities to progress to larger platforms like Miss Uttarakhand. One of the participants took on Bhatnagar and gave valid arguments against his blatant misogyny.

The organisers also stood their ground, emphasising that parents had given consent for all participants and that they had held the pageant peacefully in previous years. One organiser noted that the show “is to empower women and not to go against any culture”.

Eventually, no formal complaints were filed, and the pageant went ahead as planned the next day. The local police have called it a “misunderstanding”, but the incident leaves a larger question hanging: Who gets to decide what’s cultural and what’s not?

Who decides what is culture?

Let’s be honest, this wasn’t about the length of a dress or the sanctity of a city. It was about control. The irony? The same people preaching about “Indian culture” conveniently forget that India’s cultural attire for men is not jeans and t-shirts. Yet no one asks men to swap their denim for dhotis in the name of preserving tradition. Culture, it seems, becomes sacred only when it can be used to police women.

Incidents like this are not rare. They happen every day. Perhaps what unsettles people like Bhatnagar isn’t western clothes — it’s the confidence. It’s seeing young women occupy space, speak up, and refuse to shrink themselves to fit into an outdated idea of virtue. Because the truth is, Rishikesh doesn’t lose its spirituality because a woman wears a skirt. But it does lose a bit of its soul when people mistake misogyny for morality.

After the video went viral, people on the internet have reacted. While it’s a relief to know that most people are outraged with what went down, a bunch of people have come in support of Bhatnagar. Here’s how X (formerly Twitter) is reacting.

When that man says “this is not our culture,” it’s pure moral policing. Remember Iran and Afghanistan. Girls there once studied, played sports, dressed freely… until extremists decided otherwise.

We cannot let these goons drag India down the same path.

— Anas Kazi (@itsAnasKazi) October 4, 2025

sahi kra bhai… band karo… culture khrab kar rahe hai..

— TushaR_panchal (@tushar_tinkon) October 4, 2025

Yeh nanga naach bhi band karai.. kisi ke ghar ke chirag ki aisi numaish lagana jayaz nahi. Yeh humari sanskriti nahi hai. Kal ko yeh kisi ka ghar bassenge kya izzat reh jayegi. pic.twitter.com/V3jCIFf1bN

— Minister of Equitable Misery (@OffEquitable) October 5, 2025

Featured Image Source

Related: India Fears Feminism More Than It Fears Violence Against Women