By Spl. Correspondent
Expressing solidarity with Hijab-wearing students in Karnataka, dozens of feminists and women’s groups on Friday condemned “Hindu supremacist groups” for their attempt to impose Hindutva agenda. They urged students and citizens around the country to stand against the attempts to impose misogynist and Islamophophic “dress codes” on women and students.
They also lauded the bravery of Muslim students in the face of intimidation by Hindu supremacist thugs backed by the state.
In a joint statement, women’s groups underlined that banning both saffron stoles and hijabs is not a fair or a solution because unlike hijabs worn by some Muslim women, the only purpose of the saffron stoles in this instance was to ensure a ban on the hijab and intimidate Muslim women.
They also posed a very pertinent question that why Hindu students wear bindi/pottu/tilak/Vibhuti with school and college uniforms without comment or controversy?
Full text of the Statement:
“1. The ban on hijabs in classrooms and campuses, that has begun in coastal Karnataka and threatens to spread to other states, is a hate crime. The Hindu supremacists lynch/segregate/boycott Muslims on various pretexts – beef, Muslims’ collective prayers, azaan, the skullcap, Urdu language. Hijab is only the latest pretext to impose apartheid on Muslim women.
- The video from Mandya, Karnataka of a saffron-stole wearing mob of men surrounding a hijab-wearing Muslim woman and heckling her is a warning of how the hijab can easily become the next pretext for mob attacks on Muslims.
- We firmly believe that the Constitution mandates schools and colleges to nurture plurality, not uniformity. Uniforms in such institutions are meant to minimise differences between students of different and unequal economic classes. They are not intended to impose cultural uniformity on a plural country. This is why Sikhs are allowed to wear turbans not only in the classroom but even in the police and Army.This is why Hindu students wear bindi/pottu/tilak/Vibhuti with school and college uniforms without comment or controversy. And likewise, Muslim women should be able to wear hijabs with their uniforms.
- Rulebooks in at least one of the Udupi colleges allowed Muslim women to wear hijabs to college in Udupi as long as they matched the colour of the uniform. It is not hijabs that provoked the ongoing educational disruptions. It is Hindu-supremacist outfit which disrupted harmony by staging demonstrations with saffron stoles to demand a ban on hijabs. Banning both saffron stoles and hijabs is not a fair or just solution because unlike hijabs worn by some Muslim women, the only purpose of the saffron stoles in this instance were to achieve a ban on the hijab and intimidate Muslim women.
- Making hijabi women sit in separate classrooms or move from colleges of their choice to Muslim-run colleges is nothing but apartheid. Hindu supremacist groups in coastal Karnataka have, since 2008, been unleashing violence to enforce such apartheid, attacking togetherness between Hindu and Muslim classmates, friends, lovers. It must be remembered that such violence has been accompanied by equally violent attacks on Hindu women who visit pubs, wear “western” clothes, or love/marry Muslim men. Islamophobic hate crimes have been joined at the hip to patriarchal hate crimes against Muslim and Hindu women – by the same Hindu-supremacist perpetrators.
- We are appalled that the Karnataka Home Minister has ordered an investigation into the phone records of hijab-wearing Muslim women, to “probe their links” with “terrorism groups”. Till yesterday Muslims were being criminalised and accused of “terrorism” and “conspiracy” for protesting a discriminatory citizenship law, or indeed for protesting against any form of discrimination. Now Muslim women wearing hijab is being treated as a conspiracy – in a country where women of many Hindu and Sikh communities cover their heads in much the same way, for much the same reasons; and even India’s first woman PM and President covered their heads with their saris without exciting comment or controversy?
- Girls and women should be able to access education without being shamed or punished for their clothes. Educational institutions should pay attention to what is inside students’ heads, not what’s on them. We stand with every woman who is told that she can’t enter college because she’s wearing jeans or shorts – or because she’s wearing a hijab.
- We unequivocally stand in solidarity with Muslim women whether or not they wear hijabs, to be treated with respect and to enjoy the full gamut of rights. We affirm that the Karnataka Muslim women students wearing hijabs are doing so of their own agency, and this agency must be respected.
- What women choose to wear whether they choose to cover or uncover, is a matter of ‘choice’. It cannot be a measure of modesty and immodesty. This is true for patriarchal imposition of religious practices across the spectrum. Stop trying to tell women what they must wear in order to be respected – instead respect women no matter what they wear. If you think a woman “exposes herself too much” or does not “dress like a good Hindu/Muslim/Christian/Sikh woman”, the problem lies with your patriarchal gaze and sense of entitlement. Feminism lies in respecting that every woman charts her own path in fighting patriarchy, and deciding what practices are in keeping with her faith and which ones to reject.
- We demand stern action against the organisations and individuals who led and participated in the mob that heckled a Muslim woman in Mandya. All over the country, we ask governments to alert police and public to the need to deter any attempt to intimidate hijab-wearing women.
We salute the courage of the Muslim women students in Karnataka who are bravely fighting this battle for dignity and rights in the face of intimidation by Hindu-supremacist thugs backed by the state. We are glad to hear from these students that several of their Hindu and Christian friends are supporting their struggle – and we appeal to students and citizens all over the country to resist any attempt to impose misogynist and Islamophophic “dress codes” on students and women.
All India Democratic Women’s Association,
All India Progressive Women’s Association,
Awaaz-E-Niswan,
Bebaak Collective,
Forum Against Oppression of women,
Feminists In Resistance,
National Alliance of People’s Movements,
National Federation of Indian Women,
People’s Union for Civil Liberties,
Saheli
Anuradha Banerji, Saheli, New Delhi
Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM
Chayanika Shah, Queer Feminist activist and educator, Mumbai
Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM
Nandini Rao,New Delhi
Naveddu Nilladiddare, Karnataka
Poushali Basak, FAOW,FIR (KolKata)
Safoora Zargar, research scholar and activist, Jamia Millia Islamia
Vrinda Grover, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Go to a madrassa if you want to follow your rules.
Students wearing hijab must not be allowed just as students wearing saffron shawls must also not be allowed.
kattar hindu aka kattar goo
Shut your smelly stinking ass, hindu gutter rat. Who the hell are you, street sh1tter? You have no business telling us what to do. Nobody cares about your sh1tty saffron shawls, jealous petty RSS bhangi. Religious freedom is guaranteed in the Indian constitution. Muslims will continue wearing our dress according to the dictates of our religion, and no filthy ugly monkey worshipping Hindu gutter rat can stop us. If you don’t like it go eat some cow sh1t in a gau shalla, unemployed sanghi bhangi.
Hindu extremists and terrorists need to be exterminated to save India.
Go to zee news my bro if dont like this
Even if Hijab is or is not part of one’s faith , it is good thing to cover your body parts for many reasons including both social and medical . Unnecessary sun exposure of sensitive facial skin leads to various types of skin cancers , covering scalp hair protects from pollution effects and brittleness of hair. Body revealing type undescent dresses like miniskirt, bikini etc. exposes girls/women to gender based crimes. However covering your body with clothes like Hijab, chunri, dupatta, Saree etc is socially and morally appreciable due to various benefits and oriental social standards and traditions .