Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan thinks the Karnataka hijab row is a “non-issue” and said students joining an educational institute must abide by the rules set by the institute.
Khan said the culture of using a veil was brought by invaders from the north. Things have changed and women there (north) do not put-up long veils and nobody has made it mandatory for them to do so. “As time changes, so do the customs,” Khan said.
The Kerala governor was referring to the recent ‘hijab row’ in educational institutes of Karnataka whereby Muslim girls were stopped from wearing scarves in colleges. As the issue snowballed into a controversy, several Hindu boys, wearing saffron shawls, demanded permission to enter colleges.
The Karnataka High Court is hearing the matter and has put the matter for further hearing on Monday (February 14). The Supreme Court has refused to interfere in the matter as of now.
Khan said religion is meant to unite people and not divide them. “Dress codes are inherent in any institution and those in it should follow the prescribed discipline or join some other place,” Khan said while speaking to News18.
The governor said the incumbent government has shown the willingness to stand up to people who break rules and won’t bow down. “Change takes time. In the past, girls and women were buried under the earth and now they were suppressed and hidden under norms like the veil and Triple Talaq,” he said.
Khan said Muslim girls in Karnataka were “being used to gain certain political, ulterior, motives”.
On the students who are protesting the ban on hijab, Khan said the protesting students are not quoting the Quran, but keep talking about religion. He said the Quran uses the word ‘khimar’ (meaning dupatta) while ‘hijab’ has been used seven times in the holy book, but not to suggest cloth of any kind. “The word used in Quran is jilbab which is like shirt. The word Hijab, wherever used, is in terms of curtain, seclusion, separation and not as any cloth,” the leader explained.
The Kerala governor said law cannot be followed selectively. He said Islam is being used by opportunistic people to divide people. “Who is denying your democratic rights? But when you join an institution you agree to following the codes of that institution,” he said.
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The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending considerations of all petitions related to the hijab row, has asked the state government to reopen educational institutions and restrained students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves or hijab in the classroom. Accordingly, educational institutes opened across Karnataka, a day after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had decided to keep them shut for three days to check spiralling tension.
The court also made it clear the order was restricted to institutions wherein the college development committees had prescribed a dress code or uniform.
The court has posted the matter for February 14.