New Delhi: Amid the raging controversy over wearing of hijab at educational institutions, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Saturday said the argument linking hijab with turban is absurd as the latter is an integral part of the Sikh religion unlike the former.
Terming the ongoing row as a ‘conspiracy’, Khan said the question was not that of choice but the willingness to follow dress code and regulations of an institute.
“Hijab is not a part of Islam. Hijab is mentioned seven times in Quran, but it is not in connection with the women’s dress code. It is a conspiracy to stop the Muslim girls from progressing. The hijab controversy is a conspiracy to stop the education of Muslim girls. The Muslim girls are studying now and achieving what they want. I would suggest the students to return to their classrooms and study,” Khan said as quoted by news agency ANI.
He further stressed that although women are free to choose their attire, they would have to comply with the rules and regulations of an institute they are a part of.
“You are free to wear anything that you want. But when you are associated with an institution, you have to adhere to the rules and regulations and the dress code of the institution,” the ANI report quoting him as saying.
Establishing his point, Khan said that Quran mentions hijab but not as a dress code but as a ‘purdah’ which means that when a woman speaks, she should have a purdah in between.
The ongoing row can be traced back to the beginning of January when some students in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru started wearing hijab to schools as a mark of protest after some of them were not allowed to enter the classroom for wearing the headscarves.
The issue then spread across the state as several other schools and colleges issued similar diktats. The opposing groups of students started protesting both for and against the right to wear hijabs in the educational institutes. Those opposing the Muslim girls donned saffron scarves.
The row then escalated further with national political parties joining in to attack each other over the issue. The protests have further gained momentum by spreading to different parts of the nation and the matter is currently in the Karnataka High Court.