Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hijab Row: If it’s a personal choice, why have problems with a “Ghungat” or a “Sati”?

The principal of the Government PU College in Kundapur, Karnataka talks to the students who came wearing the Hijab.

You probably are upset that Muslim girls are not being allowed to wear Hijab inside a few schools in Karnataka. 

You probably are thinking on the lines:

(a) What else do you expect the state of Muslims to be in a BJP-ruled state?;

(b) A Shashi Tharoor is echoing in your mind too: How is Hijab different if I could wear a tilak or a Cross pendant in my classroom?;

(c) What happens to the personal and cultural freedom granted to Indian citizens by the Constitution?

So let’s take first get this out of the way. 

  1. It’s not Muslims or BJP; even Kerala govt doesn’t allow Hijab among (student police) cadets; and no less than 150 educational institutions run by Kerala Muslim Educational Society (MES) have banned Hijab;
  2. A Tilak or a Cross pendant are adornments which is different from being mandated a uniform by an institution; 
  3. Personal and cultural freedom is Constitutionally protected only as long as it doesn’t affect public order: Or why an essential Kripan for a Sikh is not permitted on flights? In the name of personal and cultural freedom, would you be alright if a “Sati” is performed tomorrow?

Hmmm… You must be thinking: 

Come on, a veil is a religious thing for Muslim women. It’s not dangerous to life as a Sati or a Sikh’s Kripan could be?

  • If it is a religious thing for women, why worldwide there is a movement that Muslim women be freed from this oppression? Why women in Iran, Afghanistan and Middle East risk being raped, jailed or killed in a fight to liberate themselves from this misogyny and slavery?
  • Saudi Arabia, the “seat” of Muslim Power, doesn’t think Hijab is ordained by Quran;
  • Scores of Muslims nations themselves, such as Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Lebanon etc have banned veils; 
  • How could it be that you are up against patriarchy yet are comfortable with women made “invisible”? 
  • How is that you call yourself feminist yet have no problem if Muslim women are forced to adhere to hijab or head scarves? Then why have problems with “Ghungat” of a Hindu woman? After all this too is a cultural thing. 

Now, you must be thinking: But these girls are wearing headscarves out of their own choice. 

  • If it’s so, why they didn’t have problem with the uniform code before January? After all, session after session, year after year, the uniform code has been in force. Why Now?

But what’s the problem for these schools?: It’s is another worm in your head. 

  • The schools’ problem is uniform dress code. All schools follow it. You get freed from it when you are in college or in university. All these schools are saying: You are free to be inside the campus in your hijabs or head-scarves. But not within a classroom. It’s a limited position which schools want students to adhere to. 
  • One could follow one’s religion as one wants but it’s not your case that an institution must discard its own set of norms. 
  • What happens to a secular nation if each student wears his religious identity, like the Hindu students did with saffron attire in retaliation to these Muslim girls, and a classroom becomes a battleground; and it spills over among parents; and in society?

Instead, this is what it is essential for you to ponder:

  • Why I am not told that these six protesting Muslim girls belong to a particular village where radical SDPI representatives are in control?;
  • Why my newspaper doesn’t wonder that Namaz in Gurugram and now Hijab in Karnataka could be an attempt to mobilize even neutral Muslims into a dangerous identity bind? 
  • Why my media outlet isn’t reflecting if it’s to keep India in constant churn and blood could flow in every neighbourhood.
  • Why my media doesn’t bat an eyelid when a Lavanya is allegedly killed for refusing conversion while it stands for religious rights of these Muslim girls in Hijab row?

I leave you with an image/tweet below. Here are the Muslim women in Kerala protesting against the “patriarchy” of Sabrimala Temple where their Hindu sisters were not permitted to step in. Now this “patriarchy” on their own sisters is a badge of honour! 

Post script:

Now what do you think we should do with such newspapers and politicians who want to keep India in flames?

Should we applaud or deride the Karnataka government for sticking to secular path? 

And how do you think the Karnataka High Court should respond to the petition filed in favour of Muslim girls wearing Hijabs to classroom?

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