The February 5 order of Government of Karnataka banning wearing of Hijab and High court interim order restraining wearing of any form of religious attire has brought to fore the Hijab issue. While the BJP may try to show itself in progressive and modernity light, there are 3 M’s behind the move of Government of Karnataka. Karnataka has emerged as a Hindutva lab where Hindutva experimentation is being carried out like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. These 3 M’s are Minority subjugation, Majority domination and Muslim isolation.

Read more

https://countercurrents.org/2022/02/3-ms-behind-hijab-issue/

By T. Navin

18/02/2022

Category: Hijab as Politics

Hijab Vs Saffron Scarf || Midweek Matters 46 || Parakala Prabhakar Feb 16, 2022 https://youtu.be/TTwGpqtGcBM?t=60 

In this Episode Dr Parakala examines the hijab controversy, understand what is being played out in Karnataka, and reflect on the sub text these unfolding events contain.  Gender, Religious, and even economic Discriminatory sub-script of the orders and "elans/fatwas" like  barring Hijab in schools is being ignored even by the judiciary. One example is that Sikh boy are not barred from wearing headgear! 

The Hijab controversy is a project that is in the interest of the extreme elements in both the religions.. The alarming aspect is that extremists are now using children in the teens to further their agenda. 

The Hijab row is part of a long chain of events and controversies raised to instill fear and insecurity among the Muslims.  Attacks on Muslims and other majoritarian assertions have almost become normalised. 

Comment. The Hijab is a symbol of patriarchal oppression,  but agitation against its use in public places, is a sure sign of ensuring that those women who seek to go out, for education, work, and just recreation, face more difficulties to come out of their homes..   Is it the Karnataka States intention to keep these women at home. How will they ensure that these girls get a secular education?    

Category: Hijab as Politics

BJP accuses Congress of taking the attention away from the hijab row

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjpcongress-is-taking-away-attention-from-hijab-row-101645122528138.html

“The Congress was trying to change the religious politics of the region to vote based on caste. They knew that if the Billva and Mogaveera (a large vote bank in the region) voted based on caste instead of coming together under the banner of Hindutva, it would help the chances of the Congress. But the hijab controversy has changed the situation to Hindu versus Muslim,” pointed out a professor at Mangalore University, who didn’t want to be named.

Meanwhile, Karnataka politicians flout rules at multiple levels. Read more here: http://emeets.lnwr.in/administrator/index.php?option=com_content&task=article.edit&id=2001

Category: Hijab as Politics

A lesson from the Mahabharata  https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/a-lesson-from-the-mahabharata-india-hijab-7775630/  G. N. Devy February 16, 2022
As the hijab issue roils the nation, it would do to remember how Krishna stood by Draupadi at a time when, as now, dharma was under siege and anarchy loomed.

There is a well-set theory in linguistics: No signifier has the ability to produce meaning in isolation. Its signifying capability is determined by its place among all of other signifiers. Within the range of political signifiers of the day, where and how is the hijab issue placed? In the immediate vicinity of the lonely girl running in terror is the mob of young men, not all of whom are students of the same college, euphorically chanting the name of the “maryada–purush”. Mobs have become the authority, replacing the institutional authority, the judiciary and the law enforcing agencies. Their induction as substitutes for the institutions forming the pillars of democracy is strongly signalled by the prime minister who decided not to respond to the issues flagged in Parliament but to ramble endlessly on about his version of the history of India since Independence. Other political signifiers help understand the statements better. We are told about the perception that Independence was got as alms and that Jawaharlal Nehru was not the first prime minister. We are told that the history of India since Ashoka as written by historians is not history but a conspiracy to malign the Aryavarta.

Comment on WA: SG- I think talking of disrobing, is again fighting over the women's bodies as owned by community. And that is also not questioned. I find it offending reducing it to cause for war, without a critical comment.

SS: The reference to Mahabharat has been used just to effectively draw attention to the possibility of a devastating civil war that underlies the hijab row. ..The reference to Mahabharat has been used just to effectively draw attention to the possibility of a devastating civil war that underlies the hijab row...  it's perhaps a bit unfair to chastise the writer for using and then not dissecting "disrobing" and bring out its various implications.

SG: one needs to be critical on all aspects. Protection of Woman's dignity works against women too. The very fact that the article starts with the disrobing is meant to have the dramatic impact, , which feeds in a very surreptitious manner the deep rooted bias in communities. So at least when women are foregrounding battle, one needs to be sensitive to that too.

Category: Hijab as Politics