Conspiracy lies and half-truths highlighted
I WISH to highlight some of lies and half-truths concerning the hijab conspiracy in Karnataka.
There is no hijab ban in India. There is one in government schools in the state of Karnataka where all students have been observing the prescribed uniform dress code since 2004 when it came into force until December 31, 2021, when a few Muslim girls turned up wearing hijab, instigated by an extremist organisation.
The school authorities reminded the six or so girls that there was a prohibition on the wearing of overt religious symbols or clothes in educational institutions. The girls insisted on wearing the hijab. This resulted in Hindu students coming to school in their religious garb, especially the saffron shawls.
It is worth noting that there is no reference to hijab wearing in the notification; it merely sought to promote clothing that fostered equality and unity and which did not hinder religious harmony by emphasising differences.
So Fatima Isaacs is way off the mark by asking ”Why should there be a policy for the headscarf?” (POST, February 16-20). There isn’t one.
In fact, 133 (2) of the Karnataka Education Act 1983 says a uniform style of clothes has to be worn compulsorily. The private school administration can choose a uniform of their choice.
It said in the event of the administrative committee not selecting a uniform, clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order should not be worn.
It said students are free to wear the hijab inside school premises but not in classrooms.
This rule is being followed to ensure uniformity in classrooms.
The problem started when a few Muslim girls suddenly decided “hijab first, education later” in the classroom.
Tarek Fatah in a YouTube video highlights how the mullahs/maulvis and Indian Islamists misrepresented the “essential components” of faith – the 5 pillars of Islam – as including women wearing the hijab. Apparently wearing the hijab is not mentioned in the Qur’an as something to be worn on the head to cover the hair. It is to cover the bosom.
He feels extremists are luring young women and men of the Muslim faith in creating another divide.
Fatah also highlights how the international media is negatively portraying
India into labelling it as a Fascist state. Other intellectuals, like Arif Mohammad Khan, have also exposed the false claim that the Qur’an prescribes what the mullahs/moulvis declare about the hijab and how the perfidious Congress Party is politicising and milking the issue.
“The female students were heckled by men dressed in saffron shawls (the colour of the ruling Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party)”, not quite. Saffron is the colour of Hindu, Sikh and Theravada Buddhism spirituality and culture.
The colour is included in the national flag. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flag is largely saffron with a little green and white. Other political parties also have some saffron, for example Congress.
The male students heckled a burka wearer, who came on a scooter, again disregarding the law, since helmets are compulsory. She felt her burka would suffice. The male students had no business heckling her though.
Ashwin Trikamjee, the head of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, said: “All cultures, including cultural practices and beliefs, must be respected by all.”
As a lawyer, he should have known or found out what the Indian constitution says about the “essential component of religion”.
And was he not the man who sided with the school in the Sunali Pillay nose stud case? Who is he trying to kid? Where was he when the SABC in its programmes Eastern Mosaic and Mela insulted and disrespected Hindu culture?