F*ck your Culture - Article 2

Incident 1

December 31, 2021. Six Muslim students were denied entry to their classrooms in Udupi PUC College by CDC President Raghupathi Bhat who is also the local BJP MLA. He further stated, “A Transfer Certificate will be given and they can go to any college which allows them to do so. But our Policy is clear. No hijabs in the classroom”. And finally, after nearly 3 months of politically influenced protests, hate crimes, and violence, the Karnataka High Court upheld the ban on hijab in educational institutions on 15 March 2022. The court ruled that hijab is not an essential religious practice under Islam and hence not protected by Article 25 of the constitution setting out the fundamental right to practice one's religion. The appeal in the Supreme Court for this case was rejected by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana.

 

Incident 2

September 16, 2022. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Saqez City, Iran was arrested by local “Morality Police” outside a metro station for not wearing the hijab properly. On her way to the correction facility, she was manhandled by a female officer inside the van. Sadly she passed away after being in a coma for 3 days after the incident. The police have denied that she was mistreated and said that she suffered "sudden heart failure". Now, this has caused massive unrest in Iran which is getting support from activists, governments, and people all over the world.                            

 

Let us first see where this concept of dressing came into the picture. Scientifically speaking, we the Homo Sapiens are the descendants of chimpanzees who once went without wearing anything at all. At some point in time, our species had the knowledge of what is to be segregated as private parts and how to cover them. It started from leaves, the skin of dead animals, wool, and cotton to what we are wearing these days. They never preached to anyone what to wear. They wore whatever made them feel comfortable. People who moved to hotter areas wore lighter clothes and those who moved to colder places wore tight and dense outfits to keep them protected from cold weather. One’s choice of dressing has always been based only on their comfort but nothing else.

 

So what made them have this backward mentality on such a small thing as dressing? Their Culture? What is Culture? Does it depend upon the group they belong to? What fits them into a particular group? Is it the religion they follow and the Gods they worship? Who defined that their Gods and religion demand that this is how you should be dressed? Or is it the demand of men who claim to speak for God himself?                               

 

All religions oppress their weak in innumerable ways, but the abuse and unjust nature towards women tops them all. This dressing issue is also one of them. It is the insecure nature of the people (yes, all of them irrespective of gender have a share in this, though it heavily leans towards men) that wants a woman to cover herself completely to make sure she is always invisible to the outside world. So that they can confine her into that box where she can only cook, wash, bed, birth, and populate the planet with more offspring of their religion/ caste/ whatever they call themselves. But when she starts to think for herself? Burn that Witch.

                                   

Returning to the incidents mentioned at the beginning, generally, it is said that the burqa is really the woman’s choice and no one is forcing her to wear it. She can remove it if she wants to. But when she does remove it, she is disparaged. She is being slut shamed, and her dignity is put to question. Why? Why are culture and religion defined by the way someone dresses?                    

Hijab is an outfit, a dress. If someone decides to wear it, it's their decision. If someone decides not to wear it, it’s their decision. Not only hijab, take any dress for that matter. What someone wears is their own choice. No court, police, political force, religion, or individual person (including family) cannot have a say in this. It is sad to see that some individuals and political parties try to take advantage of this issue for their own personal benefits and it is really disheartening that wearing a piece of cloth that purely needs to be a single person’s choice has now been made into this big an issue in the name of religion.

But then, everything is made into a big issue in the name of religion. 

 

Thanks for reading so far. Pour what you think of this in the comments.  

Pudge, Nov 2022

Want to stay updated on Aviyal's new content? Click here to follow our insta page and never miss new content!