BJP Leader Says Hijabi Girls Are Terrorists; After Gujarat, Karnataka Introduces Hindu Religious Texts In Schools
Muslim students battling the hijab ban by the Karnataka state High Court have been called terrorist sympathizers by state leaders from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yashpal Suvarna, BJP leader and vice-president of Udupi Government Pre-University College Development Committee in Karnataka, called the girls “anti-nationals” saying they were “members of a terrorist organisation.”
“What should we expect from them for the country when these students call the verdict given by learned judges as politically motivated and against the law? They have only proved that they are anti-nationals,” Suvarna said.
Meanwhile, Muslim girls have raised their voices, saying that their futures are at risk due to the discriminatory hijab ban. Aliya Assadi, a state-level karate gold medalist who has won numerous tournaments, has expressed her fears of having to drop out of the college if the Supreme Court upholds the high court’s orders over the state’s hijab ban.
Assadi is one among the six Muslim students whose petition demanding headscarves to be allowed in educational institutions was dismissed by the Karnataka high court on Tuesday. The court said the Islamic headscarf was not an essential religious practice of Islam and the imposition of uniform was a “reasonable restriction.”
While the headscarf wearing Muslim women are struggling to get justice through courts for practice their right to education, the Hindu nationalist BJP government is continuing to Hinduize the education system in India. After Gujarat, the ruling BJP government in Karnataka is all set to introduce the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, in the school syllabus.
BJP senior leader M.P. Renukacharya stated that he would welcome the decision to include Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus.
Propaganda Film Director Gets 8-Person Security Detail From Modi Government
The BJP government in India has accorded Y-category security, which entails an eight-person security detail, to ‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri as controversy rages on surrounding his anti-Muslim propaganda film, which is based on the tragic exodus of Hindu Pandits from Kashmir in the 1990s.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has openly expressed his support for the film, which has been called out by many people for showing half-truths that paint Muslims in a stereotypically negative light. The film has been declared tax-free in several states including Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand. Critics of the movie warned against the vilification of the Kashmiri Muslims and the message the movie sends and that it could lead to targeted attacks against already marginalized Muslims.
Jammu and Kashmir former chief minister Omar Abdullah has called the film a “concocted story,” pointing out that it wasn’t just Kashmiri Pandits who had to migrate or were killed, but many Muslims and Sikhs also suffered.
“They too had to migrate from Kashmir and haven’t returned yet,” he said.
Islamophobic Commuters Deny Hijabi Woman With Infant Child Seat On Mumbai Train
Anti-hijabi discrimination has spread across India. Just days after athe Karnataka High Court banned hijabs in schools in that state, a Muslim woman wearing the hijab was denied a seat on a localtrain in Mumbai, the capital of the neighboring Maharashtra state, despite carrying her infant child, and watched as the seat was offered to Hindu women instead.
Dr. Parvez Mandviwala, the woman’s husband, posted the story on Twitter: “My wife was denied a seat in a local train today because she was wearing a hijab. A gentleman vacated his seat for her, but other passengers insisted some sari-clad ladies take the seat instead, despite the fact that my wife was carrying our infant child. Where will this end?”
“It is not about my wife or my family, but about the society we are evolving into and the environment we are heading towards. That is my only concern. We need to engage in a positive dialogue with each other to counter this Islamophobic narrative,” he added in an interview with Free Press Journal, an Indian news publication.
While the train company apologized for the incident, activists on Twitter have pointed out that the Karnataka Court’s verdict will encourage further harassment and discrimination against Muslim women in all spaces, not just in schools.
