There is no controversy in India about school-college Muslim girls wearing headscarves (incorrectly called 'hijab'). But in the BJP-ruled state of Karnataka, what is being called a 'hijab debate' is clearly misleading. This is nothing but hijab.
This is an unjust and heinous attack on the right of Muslim girls to education protected by law and constitution. Significantly, the National Commission for Human Rights under the new head, known as pro-government, sent a notice to the Udipi district authorities of Karnataka on January 26 after receiving complaints in this regard. The allegations made to the Human Rights Commission have raised serious issues such as human rights violations. The commission has issued a notice to the Udipi district authorities alleging that students are being subjected to human rights violations there.
A single bench of the Karnataka High Court has failed to grant interim stay on the government order on February 5 after the Karnataka government issued a complete wrong and unreasonable order banning girls from wearing headscarves in all educational institutions in the state. However, the future of the education of hundreds of Muslim girls has become uncertain due to the final examination of Class XII in the next two months and the order of the government.
Article 133 (2) of the Karnataka Education Act 1973 has been misinterpreted and it has been ordered that the uniforms prescribed by the College Development Committee or the Administrative Board of Pre-University College Appeal Committee should be compulsorily worn by the students. The order said the school management committee would not select any uniform that would eliminate inequality and solidarity and would be against government law.
It is clear from the nature of this order of the Karnataka government that the order is specially motivated. First of all, it should be kept in mind that the BJP MLA is the head of the development committee of all the colleges in Udipi, including the PU college where the incident took place. Although the PU College authorities did not impose any ban on the students wearing headscarves, the MLO issued an order saying that no student can enter the college after wearing the headscarf. Bajrang Dal's Udipi district secretary Surendra Koteshwar said if the college authorities allow Muslim students to take classes after wearing scarves or hijabs, his party would allow the rest of the students to enter the college wearing purple veils.
He did not stop just saying. He turned this into action with government patronage. He gathered the party men in purple clothes at the gates of the colleges. Bajrang Dal workers, dressed in purple, stood at the gate and began barring students wearing headscarves or burqas from entering the college. Police were standing next to him watching the joke. When the Bajrang Dal activists were harassing the Muslim girls, the police did not stop the harassers and told the victims to leave immediately. Police later said they forced the students to leave in the interest of maintaining law and order.
The targeting of Muslim girls in this way has provoked an angry reaction in the entire Muslim community and wearing a scarf is now becoming a language of protest among them. As a result, the girl, who had never worn a scarf before, is now wearing a scarf as a symbol of protest.
Authorities at Bandracars Arts and Science Degree College, another college in Udaipur, also allowed students to enter the college wearing headscarves, despite a government order banning scarves. They said the scarf could be worn after matching the color of the school dress. But even after obeying that law, Muslim girls are not being allowed to enter the college.
Isn't that unfair? They are wearing uniforms. Just wanting to keep an extra scarf on her head. But they are not allowed to wear it. The targeting of Muslim girls in this way has provoked an angry reaction in the entire Muslim community and wearing a scarf is now becoming a language of protest among them. As a result, the girl, who had never worn a scarf before, is now wearing a scarf as a symbol of protest. We are also seeing this situation being created in Karnataka. In this situation, it is easy to lay the groundwork for extremist Muslim organizations.
Now Hindutva groups are presenting the situation in such a way that it seems that Muslim girls are directly opposed to wearing uniforms in educational institutions. Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh said, "I urge all students to respect the uniforms prescribed by the government. I also make it clear that those who violate government school uniform regulations will not be allowed to enter the school and will not be able to attend classes. "
Now the thing is, Muslim girls are wearing prescribed uniforms. In addition covering their heads with a scarf. In other words, they are not completely covering their uniforms with burqas. They are not using veils to cover their faces. The boys of Sikhism wear uniforms as well as turbans. Are they disobeying government orders regarding uniforms? Are there any rules anywhere in India that prevent a Sikh boy or girl from covering their head? So why should there be duality in the case of Muslim girls?
No one is against uniforms in educational institutions. There is no violation of uniform rules for Muslim girls wearing scarves. It is unreasonable to argue that wearing a scarf outside the uniform of Muslim girls can create law and order problems. For so many years, there has been no problem of public order in Karnataka or anywhere in India. In the neighboring state of Kerala, Muslim students can wear headscarves if they want. If he doesn't want to, he can wear it. There is no coercion. Kerala has not created any law and order problem with girls wearing headscarves.
It is a state with the highest literacy rate among Muslim women and the highest enrollment of Muslim girls in high schools. In fact, this order of the Karnataka state government is motivated.
Article 25 of the Constitution of India states that all citizens of the state have equal rights to practice, practice and propagate their religion freely. But the government is trying to explain the situation by bringing the scarf debate to the fore as if the 'right to practice and propagate religion' protected by the constitution is disrupting public order.
In 2016, the Kerala Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) wanted to introduce a dress code banning girls from wearing scarves and long-sleeved shirts. A woman named Amena bint Bashir filed a writ petition against him. In view of this, the Kerala High Court declared the decision of CBSE illegal. The High Court ruled that wearing a headscarf and a long-sleeved shirt was a "necessary religious practice" for Muslim women.
With this in mind, the government should focus on extending the right to education to more children. In these two years of online classes, the female students have already suffered terribly.
According to the Right to Education Forum, one crore girls in India may drop out of secondary school due to the Kovid-19 epidemic. According to a Karnataka survey, 1 lakh 59 thousand children could not go to school in 2021. Even then, the Karnataka government is preventing girls from going to school, pushing their narrow agenda. It seems that the BJP government is not willing to include Muslim girls in the slogan 'Save Betty, Educate Betty'. What is being played is the open and shameless propaganda of Hindutva in the educational institutions.
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