Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
16-02-2022
Bureau Report
LUCKNOW/ NEW DELHI: A dispute over restrictions on the wearing of the hijab by female students in a southern Indian state has now reached India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, with a group of youngsters asking a college to ban the head covering.
Authorities closed colleges in Karnataka in India’s south last week after a new uniform policy barred students from wearing headscarves in classrooms, leading to protests by Muslim students and counter-protests by Hindu students.
Muslims have criticized the ban as another way of marginalizing a community that accounts for about 13% of Hindu-majority India’s 1.35 billion people.
In Uttar Pradesh, in the country’s north and bordering New Delhi, a group of more than two dozen young men reached the Dharma Samaj College in Aligarh district on Monday and handed a memorandum to its officials seeking a complete ban on the hijab within its compound.
They had saffron shawls around their necks, typically worn by Hindus, said the college’s Chief Proctor, Mukesh Bharadwaj, adding he did not recognize the people. Currently, religious garb is not allowed in classrooms but can be worn elsewhere on campus.
“Two years ago the same issue was raised and it has been raised again. We do not allow any type of religious uniform and we have a civil code of uniform for everyone,” Bharadwaj told Reuters by phone on Tuesday.
“There is a changing room for girls and they can change their dress there before attending class,” he said. “We are investigating the matter.”
Uttar Pradesh, estimated to have as many people as Brazil, is ruled by a Hindu monk from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and is in the midst of a multi-phase election that ends next month. Hindu-Muslim disputes are often used for political gains in the state.
The hijab issue has already reached court in Karnataka. Hearings will resume on Tuesday on whether the hijab should be allowed in class.
Earlier, as the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) votes to elect a new government, there’s unprecedented attention on women.
UP has a population larger than Brazil: of its 150 million eligible voters, 70 million are women and every political party is trying hard to woo them.
The opposition Congress set the ball rolling in October when Priyanka Gandhi, who’s leading the party’s campaign in the state, said 40% of its poll candidates would be women.
With the slogan of “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I’m a girl, I can fight)”, the Congress has held well-attended marathons and promised job quotas, free bus services, electric scooters and smartphones for women if it wins.
The party’s list of female candidates is also eclectic – it includes the mother of a rape survivor, a grassroots worker who was allegedly beaten up by the police, a Muslim activist who was jailed for participating in a protest, an actor and some journalists.
Political analysts say the Congress is a “non-player” with little support on the ground.
But its focus on gender has forced the main contenders – the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their main rival, the regional Samajwadi Party – to announce several schemes for women.
In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a gathering of thousands of women that he was confident that they would re-elect his party since the state government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, had provided them security and worked for their empowerment.
