By Ranjona Banerji
The ongoing “controversy” over girl students wearing hijabs in Karnataka… I put the word controversy in inverted commas because the whole issue is crystal clear to me and the word controversy does not quite fit the bill. The other words used in the media are “row”, “ban” and so on.
Common or garden terms to cover up a multitude of sins. By the media and by the authorities.
What we actually face is one more Constitutional crisis under the BJP and the Modi administration’s wide gaze and reach. Where young women students in Karnataka were first prevented from entering their colleges if they wore a scarf to being heckled to being physically assaulted to cases where their scarves were forcibly removed. Thus, we have physical violence and an assault on the Constitution. These two paths have taken the favourite RSS route: attack religious minorities in India in any way possible, especially Muslims.
You would be hard-pressed to find any media outlet taking on this issue head-on, apart from the few digital publications and newspapers that display the last vestiges of media courage in India.
The Deccan Herald in its editorial of February 14 lays out the issue and the resolution clearly: “It must be noted that the right to observe – or not observe – religious practices is itself a right of the individual and not of the community. It is the woman’s agency that matters in the choice of her dress. So, if some students wish to wear the hijab it should be seen as their individual choice as part of the right to freedom of expression and the right to practise their religion, and it should be respected and supported.”
It is this which is at the crux of the issue, which the media ought to be examining: What are our Constitutional rights and what role must the State play in upholding those?
Instead, we have public intellectuals, TV anchors and nightly discussions on whether Islam prescribes the hijab or not, enforced patriarchy, religious symbolism and the French interpretation of “laicite” or secularism. Some liberals and feminists have also jumped in, missing the woods for the trees.
The Deccan Herald edit makes the situation clear. Individual choice and the right to practise religion are both fundamental rights. Whether any religion prescribes or proscribes x or y practice is not a Constitutional issue. Any discussion on specific religious symbols is not germane to this case, and it is a deflection.
For instance, there is a discussion every year over the observance of Karva Chauth for instance. Many find it a reactionary practice; many enjoy the ritual and ceremony. Both sections of the argument are free to hold their positions. So far, neither the State nor rampaging thugs empowered by the political administration have disrupted women fasting and dressing up for the long lives of their husbands. And nor should they. If we are to remain a democracy, all these positions are permissible and our rights inviolable.
Of course, the media knows as we do, that Karva Chauth is a Hindu practice that will never be assaulted. Neither the police nor the courts will enter homes and drag women away from looking at the moon through a strainer. Nor would Indian society tolerate this.
But when it comes to Muslims or Christians, we must entertain ourselves with high decibel debates on what Islam or Christianity say or do not say. The evil intent behind these debates is not hidden. News18’s Anand Narasimhan, one of English television’s top bigots, went off on some tangent about India’s enemies getting involved in the “hijab row”. In a sense he’s correct: the RSS-BJP has effectively proved itself to be an enemy of India’s Constitution though that’s not what he means.
And then there’s every middle-of-the-road brainless Indians’ favourite anchor, Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today, who tries hard to present a “reasonable” line which is usually and also in this case, tone deaf to what is actually going on. Asaduddin Owaisi has no difficulty in ripping Sardesai’s deeply embarrassing questions apart.
The upshot is this: predictably, the media has failed once again. It has not questioned the courts, the government, the BJP-RSS, the bigots, about these assaults on individual choices and the Constitution. Instead, it has focused on Islam and deflected the issue by a totally bogus concern for women’s rights and patriarchy. The disingenuity is transparent, since objectification of women and the upholding of patriarchal controls are common and rampant through the media.
Once more, media freedom is lost in the valley of death.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal