Hijab Row: “India, Where A Piece Of Cloth Matters More Than Girls’ Education”

As long as no public nuisance occurs, why does someone’s attire even snatch away one’s right to education? The question is pretty straightforward. What’s the actual issue that requires attention and voices: is it the headscarf the Muslim women wear or the education deprivation they’ve faced for a while now?

But before we begin, I genuinely am concerned. As a politically aware citizen of India, I want to ask, is this all a political agenda portraying this chaos as something discourteous and as a matter of in-house college uniformity? So now, let’s look at this ironic part of this Hijab row.

The door of the college was shut over the face of the six Muslim women issuing that their headscarves can demolish the uniformity and harmony among students in the PU college in Udupi and that it is against the college code. But if that’s the genuine concern, I precisely condemn and question the intellectuality of the brains behind one such stupid decision.

Since what is happening afterwards is even more critical and shame provoking. I believe this is a cynical manipulation that the Karnataka government wants to create religious communalism to polarise and ensure votes from a particular community.

Is The Question Around Hijab Or Preventing Women From Accessing Education?

Before arguing if the headscarf is a compulsory part of Islam, let’s discuss the actual scenario. At this stage in India, there have been protective patriarchal families across all the states, irrespective of religion. These families have confined their daughters across generations to certain restrictions in all the fields they want to pursue, and education has never been an exception to that conservative treatment.

Now, I want to respectfully argue that this is yet to be discarded from society. If someone now wants to wear their headscarf, on their own will as their personal preference, or out of family pressure, should we restrict them from entering college and seize their right to learning and education?

The question isn’t about if Hijab is an essential practice of Islam or not. It’s all about, are the girls who were and are being denied to enter into the college are equally treated? And if it’s all a question about harmony and uniformity, is it even seen now?

In the name of implying uniformity, aren’t we all discriminating and playing the unhealthy religious game? Why does someone’s headscarf even bother when everything else is allowed? Schools and colleges are open to organise and celebrate Pujas on school premises, and cross, sindoor, turbans, and post holi smearing are allowed altogether.

Uniformity? But At What Cost

How is absolute uniformity available when students are already segmented based on genders and age groups? Yogi Adityanath is open to rule. But education can wait. It’s not that important! My India is all about: “Why are your body parts seen? Cover it!” And “Why have you covered your body parts? Effing hold it open.”

As some may argue, why don’t we allow Kirpans in educational premises when people want Hijab to be allowed? The question itself is foolish and has several fallacies. First, the Kirpan is something sharp-edged and can be harmful, which for obvious reasons, a piece of cloth isn’t.

My point is that if the PU college in Udupi wants to restore uniformity all of a sudden one morning with the help of BJP led Karnataka government by claiming it couldn’t be accomplished if those six women wore Hijab to the classroom. I shall question the falsifiable validity of the Narendra Modi raised “Beti Padhao” campaign.

It’s pretty evident now that there have been attempts to use the pre-known ‘Us vs Them’ propaganda again, and the analogous example can be the mob in Mandaya, Karnataka. The mob gheraoed a Muslim girl in Burqa who tried to enter the college.

They chanted the Jai Shri Ram slogan, which can somewhat be metaphorically translated into something so vicious: We’re to threaten you, we’re to humiliate you. They were not hailing Lord Ram.

The rights from the constitution of India are being violated altogether. The right-wing community is inclined to attack the minorities somehow and plant a seed of insecurity in the students’ hearts from a particular community. So the issue is dragged on a lot more.

But yet again, if the Hijab restriction is about uniformity and keeping religion out of the educational institutions, how is that even valid when many other practices are allowed on the premises. If it’s to stand against the patriarchy, is disabling the students from educating themselves the correct method?

We bluff about women’s empowerment all day long. How do you expect a country to stand among others when a piece of cloth and the administration’s ego play more critical parts than education?

How do you do that? As they say, I come from two Indias. We talk about women empowerment and then fake it by sharing our interest in ‘Us vs Them’ politics more. O secularism, My secularism!