Hijab Controversy: The challenge of creeping Islamisation – Virendra Parekh

Posted on Feb 16, 2022 by VOI

For decades, Muslim students rightly followed the dress code just like other students. Suddenly, they discovered that hijab is essential part of their dress and it is even more important than education. They start insisting on attending the classes in hijab and are denied entry by the college authorities. And up goes the cry that their religious rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, are trampled upon, that a malicious conspiracy is afoot to deprive them of educational opportunities. – Virendra Parekh

The raging controversy regarding the claimed right of Muslim girls to wear hijab in schools and colleges is not about education. It is a blatant attempt at Islamisation of educational institutions in Karnataka. The rapidity with which the agitation spread to several other states, the vocal support that started pouring in from all quarters local and foreign, the ease with which expensive lawyers were engaged to fight the case—all this suggests careful planning by a wide and highly resourceful network.

The BJP-ruled state in the south is chosen for testing waters. A success here will pave the way for replicating similar practices in other states. A failure here will provide a handle to the Islamists to malign the Indian state under Narendra Modi as intolerant and oppressive of minorities. Heads they win, tails we lose. Then again, this might be the thin end of the wedge. Permission to wear hijab in classes may lead to a demand for separate place inside the school premises for offering prayers and so on.

The timing is significant. No, it is not meant primarily to influence Muslim voters in the ongoing assembly elections. They need little persuasion to vote against the BJP. The idea seems to be that neither the central government nor the BJP as a party would like to take a hard line on the issue at the moment. Indeed, it would be short-sighted to view the gambit purely as an election gimmick. It is part of a long term game plan to keep challenging the Modi government on one issue after another—beef ban, mob lynching of Muslims, anti-CAA protests, “farmer” agitation and now hijab.

The chain of events gives the game away. For decades, Muslim students rightly followed the dress code just like other students. Suddenly, they discovered that hijab is essential part of their dress and it is even more important than education. They start insisting on attending the classes in hijab and are denied entry by the college authorities. And up goes the cry that their religious rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, are trampled upon, that a malicious conspiracy is afoot to deprive them of educational opportunities.

As often happens in such controversies, the basic issue involved is a no-brainer. Every organisation—school, college, office, army, court of law—has rules that the persons associated with it have to adhere to. Dress code, when prescribed, is part of these rules. Even the lawyers who argue and the judges who hear the case are bound to follow their dress code. That by itself should be a clincher. At some places, parliament and temples for example, there may not be any written dress code, but convention decrees what is permissible and what is not. This is not regarded as encroachment on individual freedom.

The courts have applied their minds on some aspects of this issue. Thus, a Hindu soldier is not allowed to apply tilak on his forehead while on duty; and this is no violation of his religious right. Similarly, a Muslim in the Indian Air Force cannot grow a beard. This is because a Hindu will be a Hindu without a tilak and a Muslim a Muslim without a beard; tilak and beard are not essential parts of their respective faiths. On the other hand, a Sikh soldier is allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban, because without a beard and turban he would not be a proper Sikh; this is in conformity with the essential practices test that the Supreme Court conceived decades ago. However, according to Major General Dhruv C. Katoch (Retd), a Sikh soldier cannot carry a kirpan; and this is no violation of his religious rights.

Carefully and maliciously, an impression is being created that the BJP government is denying Muslim women their right to wear hijab. Nothing can be farther from truth. Muslim girls are not asked to give up hijab; they are free to wear it outside the premises of the educational institution. But if they believe that they must wear it wherever they go, then they must choose between the study and what they believe to be their religious right or obligation. If they have the right to follow their religion, educational institutions have a right to prescribe a dress code. They cannot, and must not be allowed to, impose their preferences on secular institutions.

The weakness of their contention, however, has not deterred the masterminds behind this gratuitous, artificial but well-crafted controversy to up the ante. The agitation had spread to six states as of last Sunday. The hijab-clad girl who shouted “Allah-o-Akbar” at Hindu students wearing saffron shawls is being showered with goodies including hard cash. The Supreme Court has been approached to prevent this alleged violation of the fundamental rights of minorities. It is significant that in India minorities invoke the Constitution only to assert their religious rights. Otherwise, they have little use for it.

The so-called liberals, at home and abroad, have lost no time in joining the Islamist bandwagon. Their chicanery and outright hypocrisy is out in the open for all to see. They have happily placed modern liberal Western idiom at the disposal of unabashed Islamic aggression. They are parroting phrases like individual liberties, fundamental rights of minorities, girl education, women’s rights and all that to justify pro-hijab agitation. Their bluff can be called easily. Will they invoke any of these high-sounding phrases if, say, Hindu students of Aligarh Muslim University insisted on wearing tilak on their foreheads or saffron shawls on shoulders? Have they ever raised their voice when Hindu students in missionary schools are punished for sporting tilak or bindis?

Instead of asking Muslims to abide by non-discriminatory rules of a secular educational institution, the so-called liberals are blaming school authorities and state government for the controversy. Instead of upholding principles of secularism and syncretism, they are pleading for a retrograde, anti-woman medieval practice of hijab.

The Left-liberals in India are fond of masquerading as intellectuals. For all their supposed intelligence, however, they fail to see that the Islamists have no use for liberalism, pluralism or secularism. The Islamists are driven by a desire to assert their Muslim identity in a Hindu-majority India, to show that Hindu sentiments do not matter and Muslims can have their way in any issue they raise against the kaffirs. The riots that swept the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act, brazen attempts to offer namaz at public places, the killing of Hindu activists for alleged disrespect to Prophet Mohammed, deafening blood chilling cries of “sar tan se juda” (head cut off from body) in public rallies are motivated by prophetic Islam, and not by any liberal or secular ideals.

As in any tussle between the Hindus and followers of Abrahamic faiths, the other side has a much clearer idea of the stakes involved and is far better prepared to fight for its point. “We do not care for your laws or your sentiments. Your laws, your systems, your processes must be adapted to the demands that we make on you. That is the message sought to be conveyed, once more, through the hijab controversy.

Hindu society is beginning to see through the game. Hindu students take to wearing saffron shawls and scarves as a mark of protest against the pro-hijab agitation.

The BJP government has a golden opportunity to score a valuable point for nationalism by thwarting Islamists in their game. It could build a solid case based on secularism and equality. The essence of secularism is that no single group should be permitted to do what others are rightly forbidden to do. The dress code is common to all students cutting across religious divides. If this is not secular, what is? BJP government at the centre and in Karnataka must resist the temptation to devise a “solution”, a face-saving way out of the tussle. They must fight, and fight to win. Any “solution” will only tempt the aggressor to ask for more.

Asaduddin Owaisi has boasted that a Muslim girl in hijab will someday become prime minister of the country. That is the fate that awaits the Hindus if they fail to rise to the challenge of Islamic aggression.

› Virendra Parekh is a senior journalist of 45 years standing. He writes in English and Gujarati on economics and politics as also on issues related to Indian civilisation, history and cultural nationalism. Currently, he is Executive Editor of Vyapar, a 72-year-old Mumbai-based Gujarati bi-weekly economy, business and investment.