Now, Pro-Veil Protest In Name Of Ambedkar, Who Ironically Called ‘Burqa Women’ One Of The Most Hideous Sights In India

In a protest that defied all logic, some self-proclaimed supporters of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar staged a protest in Karnataka on Monday against the state government for not allowing burqa during lectures in government schools.

Mediapersons covering the issue in Karnataka posted videos of male students donning blue stoles chanting ‘Jai Bhim’ (short for Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar). The students were protesting in support of the burqa-donning women students at IDSG government college in Chikkamagalur area of Karnataka, as per reports.

Students donning blue came face-to-face with students donning saffron, triggering what reports say was a “riot-like” situation. However, the police managed to control the groups.

Since the controversy over Islamic veil erupted, several Hindu men and women students from government schools have been coming to the campuses in saffron stoles, demanding either they too be allowed to display their religion or the Muslim women be barred from displaying theirs.

Ambedkar Heavily Criticised The Islamic Veil

The pro-hijab protest by the ‘Ambedkarwadis’ is highly ironical, given that Ambedkar made his anti-burqa stand very clear in his writings. In his seminal writings ahead of the creation of Pakistan, Ambedkar called burqa-donning women “one of the most hideous sights one can witness in India”.

This is what Ambedkar wrote, in a chapter of the book titled ‘Social Stagnation’:”

As a consequence of the purdah system, a segregation of the Muslim women is brought about...These burka women walking in the streets is one of the most hideous sights one can witness in India.

In the same chapter, Ambedkar decried the religious sanction to the veil in Islam compared to Hindu religions

On the religious sanction to the veil in Islam compared to Hindu religions:

In a possible attempt to unite with Muslims against “saffronisation”, the Dalit student group rallying in support of the burqa is thus behaving as anti-Ambedkarwadi. The chants of ‘Jai Bhim’ accompanying their agitation are an insult to the beliefs of Bhimrao.

What The Pro-Burqa Protests Are All About

Some Muslim women have been agitating since December for their ‘right’ to wear the Islamic veil during classes.

The agitation began at an all-women government pre-university college in Udupi district when eight of 70 Muslim students came to the school wearing the veil in December, demanding they be allowed to attend classes. The girls argued that it was only recently that they had discovered that the school had no specific rule against the Islamic veil, which they said was a symbol of their religion. The agitation has since spread to other government schools. As of now, Muslim students in at least five schools are demanding the same.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has been adamant on its stand that it won’t allow young women to don the Islamic veil during classes.

State BJP president and Dakshina Kannada member of parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel told mediapersons a day ago that the state government would not allow ‘Talibanisation’ of the education system.