'Big irony': Against hijab ban, CPM questions 'surya namaskar' programmes in colleges

The move to deny hijab-wearing girls access to education is an attempt to make Muslims second class citizens, the party said

The CPI(M) on Thursday found fault with the Karnataka government over the hijab row and said it is a “big irony” that it called for a week-long performance of ‘surya namaskar’ to commemorate the 75th year of independence in colleges across the state but banned Muslim girls wearing hijab.

In an editorial in the latest edition of party’s mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’, it also said behind the move to deny hijab-wearing girls access to education is an attempt to make Muslims second class citizens.

It said the hijab row should not be seen in isolation and it was part of a plan it adopted since it came to power in 2019 after toppling the Congress-JD(S) government to impose Hindutva agenda on the state and cited recent laws on conversion and cow slaughter.

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It said the Karnataka government has acted against the fundamental right of Muslim girl students to education.

“If religious identity cannot be expressed in clothing in an educational institution, then would that mean that Sikh boys cannot be allowed to wear turbans to school? Wearing a hijab for a Muslim girl or a turban for a Sikh boy would constitute an essential religious practice,” it said.

The CPI(M) said the hijab worn by Muslim girl students has been seized upon by the BJP and Hindutva forces to create “another divisive and anti-Muslim polarisation” in Karnataka. They said the insistence of six girls to wear hijab to class in the pre-university college in Udupi was “utilised” by the ABVP and Hindu Jagran Vedika to get some Hindu students to wear saffron scarves and protest. The same thing happened in two other colleges in Kundapur.

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“The saffron-wearing students belonging to the ABVP and other Hindutva outfits shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ soon come into confrontation with hijab-wearing girls trying to gain entry into their colleges where they were earlier being allowed to wear hijabs. In the government pre-university colleges, where uniforms were prescribed, Muslim girls wore hijab of the same colour as their uniforms. But all this changed after the saffron protests,” it said.

Referring to the government order that no clothes which disturb “equality, integrity and public order” should be worn, the CPI(M) said it was the “latest move by the BJP state government against the minorities”. It said vigilantes who attack social mixing of men and women of different faiths have become “more brazen and grown” in coastal districts.

“In the name of not allowing any religious symbols in the dress of students, the right of Muslim girls to get an education is being denied. The series of statements made by ministers, MPs and MLAs make it clear that Muslims are being targeted for their religious identity and will be treated as second class citizens and denied the equal rights provided under the constitution,” it said.

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