Feb 13, 2022: A US official has expressed concern over the controversial ban on headscarves in schools and colleges in India’s southern state of Karnataka, an opinion that received a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi.
US Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain said in a tweet on Friday that the ban on hijab would discredit and marginalize women and girls.
“Religious freedom includes the ability to choose one’s religious attire,” Hussain tweeted.
“The Indian state of Karnataka should not determine permissibility of religious clothing. Hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom and stigmatize and marginalize women and girls.”
In response to the statement issued by Hussain, India’s ministry for external affairs spokesperson Arindham Bagchi said, “Our constitutional framework and mechanisms, as well as our democratic ethos and polity, are the context in which issues are considered and resolved. … Motivated comments on our internal issues are not welcome.”
Hitting back at what the ministry called “motivated comments” on its internal issues, the minster said that the case was under judicial examination.
The controversy erupted last month when a group of Muslim students protested when they were barred from entering their college because they were wearing hijabs – a headscarf worn by many Muslim women. Since then, there have been demonstrations in and around several other colleges in support of and against the ban on the hijab, with right-wing Hindu groups wearing saffron shawls protesting against the hijab.
Last Tuesday, a hijab-wearing Muslim student was heckled by a Hindu far-right mob at a college in Karnataka state.
On February 5, the southern state government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) banned clothing that “disrupts equality, integrity and public order”. The Karnataka High Court on Thursday postponed its decision in response to a petition filed by a group of Muslim women against the hijab ban.
A three-judge panel will re-hear the case on Monday to decide whether schools and colleges can order students not to wear the hijab in classrooms. Meanwhile, the court has asked students not to wear hijab in colleges.
Social activists have said the hijab ban is part of the BJP’s anti-Muslim agenda and contravened India’s constitution, which guarantees the right to religion to every citizen.
Since Modi came to power, attacks against minorities, particularly Muslims, have gone up.
Last February, New Delhi reacted strongly to tweets from singer Rihanna and climate change activist Greta Thunberg in solidarity with the protesting farmers, saying celebrities needed a “correct understanding of the issues”. The farmers’ protest lasted for a year till the Modi government repealed the farming laws.
Stay tuned to BaaghiTV for latest news and Updates!
Sonam Kapoor reacts to hijab row on Instagram
India: Multinational stores forced to shut down by hardliner Hindus over Kashmir tweets
