Debate has erupted across the country over the ban on hijab in colleges in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The ‘hit’ on Muslim religious symbols and practices is seen as part of the hardline agenda of the values imposed by the majority Hindus on the country’s minorities.
The number of Muslim minorities in India is about 200 million. They fear that the religious freedom granted to them by the country’s constitution will be violated by banning the hijab. Last Friday, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom said the hijab ban would humiliate and marginalize women and girls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also in power in the state of Karnataka. The party is advocating a discriminatory ban on the hijab. For decades, the BJP has been pushing for the introduction of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in educational institutions, which the minorities see as tantamount to enforcing Hindu law.
Last Tuesday, there were allegations in the state of preventing Muslim students wearing hijab from entering schools and colleges. The sight of many students unveiling their hijabs outside the school has drawn criticism, which social media users have described as ‘insulting’.
Sujata Gidla, author of the book Ants Among Elephants, said the incident was reminiscent of police harassment of Muslim women wearing burkini in France in 2016.
Students protest after hijab-wearing students were barred from entering the school. At this time there was a quarrel between the school authorities and the students. Government High School, Indavara, Chikmagalur, 15 February
Students protest after hijab-wearing students were barred from entering the school. At this time there was a quarrel between the school authorities and the students. Government High School, Indavara, Chikmagalur, 15 February Photo: ANI
Alia Meher, a student of Karnataka Public School in Shivamanga district of Karnataka, told Al Jazeera, “About 13 of us were taken to another room. Because, we wore head scarves with school uniforms. They tell us that if we wear hijab, we will not be able to sit for pre-board exams. We inform you, then we will not give the test. But I can’t leave the hijab. Suddenly they ask us to remove the hijab from our heads.
Reshma Banu, mother of another student of the same school, said that she too was barred from entering the school. Prohibition of hijab is ‘unacceptable’. “The hijab is an integral part of our religious beliefs,” he told Al Jazeera. We admitted our children here because we thought they would be respected here. ‘
The matter was taken to court. The Karnataka High Court is hearing two writ petitions against the hijab ban. Meanwhile, a bench of the High Court directed that no one should come to the school-college in religious attire till the matter is settled.
But the school’s headmistress, Sushila V, said her school was obliged to obey government directives. “It’s a pre-board test,” he told Al Jazeera. We will be able to test them later. We will implement the necessary rules as per the verdict of the court.
Meanwhile, Muslim students have challenged the ban on hijab in the Karnataka High Court.
The way things started
Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Gorkha Division) and Durga Bahini protested against the hijab debate. Agra, 15 February
Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Gorkha Division) and Durga Bahini protested against the hijab debate. Agra, 15 FebruaryPhoto: ANI
The controversy erupted last December. A group of Muslim students wearing hijabs protest outside a government college in Udupi district of Karnataka. They complained that they were expelled from college for wearing hijab. Since then the debate started. When the video of the incident spread on the internet, it was criticized. Rights activists demanded the lifting of the hijab ban. But the college authorities and the government did not listen to their demands and enforced the ban. Many other educational institutions are following the same path in the face of protests by Hindu students and activists wearing ocher uniforms demanding a ban on the hijab.
The matter was taken to court. The Karnataka High Court is hearing two writ petitions against the hijab ban. Meanwhile, a bench of the High Court directed that no one should come to the school-college in religious attire till the matter is settled. However, lawyers criticized the order, saying it was tantamount to “suspending fundamental rights.”
In the spread of social media, it has been found that the police are stunning women in protest rally
In the spread of social media, it has been found that the police are stunning women in protest rallyPhoto: YouTube
Hindu students clashed with police in different parts of the state on Tuesday. In one of the colleges, a group of Hindu students questioned a student for wearing hijab. There is widespread anger over this. The issue of dress code in colleges has now become a Hindu-Muslim issue. In many places, Hindu students have started coming to the college wearing purple turbans to oppose the hijab. Influential Hindu groups in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh oppose the hijab.
The BJP’s main rival in the state, the Congress, has called the hijab ban “inhumane and communal”. The Congress alleges that the BJP government has created this controversy to gain political advantage ahead of next year’s elections.
The Campus Front of India (CFI), a group of right-wing hardline Muslim students, protested for the first time since the incident began in December. The group is quite active in southern India. They claim that the college authorities are violating the religious and educational rights of Muslim students.
Saeed Sarfaraz, a member of the CFI, told Al Jazeera that the government was behind the actions of Hindu nationalist parties to oppose the hijab. He said that as seen in various videos, leaders of Hindu nationalist organizations were wearing purple scarves during anti-hijab protests in different districts.
The purpose of wearing similar attire is to eliminate inequality among students. There is no place for hijab or turban in educational institutions.
Smriti Hartiz, BJP spokesperson
According to an investigation conducted by The News Minute website, the anti-hijab protests were not spontaneous at all. But this is nothing but a deliberately Hindutva conspiracy. This is a testament to the years of communal polarization among students in Karnataka.
Why the protest in coastal Karnataka?
The center of the ongoing debate is Udupi. This district of Karnataka is considered as a stronghold of the ruling BJP. Samar Halornakar, a senior journalist from Bangalore, said coastal Karnataka was “the core” politics of Hindutva and “the realm of proof”.
“Both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists have found fertile ground in the coastal districts of Karnataka,” Hollinker, editor of the Article 14 news website, told Al Jazeera. Muslims make up 15 percent of the state’s population.
The activities of Hindutva groups have been on the rise in Karnataka for several years now and they have targeted the minorities in the state especially Muslims and Christians.
Police batons in debate over hijab
Police batons in debate over hijabPhoto: ANI
Last month, Karnataka passed a law banning conversions. The BJP government alleges that Christian missionary groups in the state are forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity. However, Christian religious leaders have denied the allegations.
The BJP’s main rival in the state, the Congress, has called the hijab ban “inhumane and communal”. The Congress alleges that the BJP government has created this controversy to gain political advantage ahead of next year’s elections.
Kaniz Fatima, a Congressman from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, told Al Jazeera, citing the example of radical Hindu groups: “We have been wearing hijab for many years. No problem. But now all of a sudden the BJP has created this issue and Hindutva groups are creating communal tensions.
Hollinker believes that the hijab issue has been taken as an opportunity by Hindu fundamentalist groups and used to make society more extremist.
However, BJP spokesperson Smriti Hartiz told Al Jazeera that the purpose of wearing similar clothes was to eliminate discrimination among students. There is no place for hijab or turban in educational institutions. He called the demand for Muslim students to wear hijab “unnecessary controversy”.
Explanation from both perspectives
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. They claim that the way the issue is being portrayed in the media is a ‘false image’.
Rights activist Ladida Farzana told Al Jazeera that the media, which supports the far-right, was trying to explain that “if we have the right to wear the hijab, then we have the right to wear the gerua scarf.” They are hijacking the issue by combining hijab with Gerua Uttar.
Some students from Jammu and Kashmir protested with placards in protest of the ban on hijab in some colleges in Karnataka. Government Degree College, Mendahar, Poonch District, Jammu & Kashmir, 18 February.
Some students from Jammu and Kashmir protested with placards in protest of the ban on hijab in some colleges in Karnataka. Government Degree College, Mendahar, Poonch District, Jammu & Kashmir, 18 February.Photo: ANI
Such controversies are part of the larger agenda of Hindutva groups to enact laws in the name of the Uniform Civil Code, Muslims fear. In the meantime, an application has been made to the Supreme Court of India to implement the ‘Common Dress Code’ in educational institutions across the country.
According to legal experts, wearing the hijab has nothing to do with the Uniform Civil Code.
Shamsad, a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India and a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said the hijab was a matter of fundamental freedom. And ‘uniformity’ is a psychological issue. Because, not all students are ‘identical’ in a school.
Ayesha Nawrin, a 16-year-old student of RN Shetty PU College in Kundapura, said, “I don’t know what the court will order. There is a kind of insecurity working on the campus. Because, inside and outside the campus, some people have taken a stand against us. We can even become the target of our teammates. ‘