Of burqa bans, secularism and other things…

My old school, St. Aloysius College, an institution that loomed large over both my home and hometown, standing high on Eidgah Hill, has just banned the burqa in classrooms, sparking off debate in the entire country about the merits and de-merits of this ban. For me, however, it seems to be the final nail in the coffin of the naive view that I grew up up in a city that was home to many languages and communities that it treated with respect. Ten years ago, I would say “melting pot,” “salad bowl” or “unity and diversity” to describe Mangalore… but these terms no longer apply, not even in the superficial way that they view and describe society.

I have come far from understanding society simply as an appetizer or metallurgical process. I’m writing to register my chagrin; I can no longer take it. I’m tired of people who cannot use the word secularism, without ever pre-fixing it with pseudo. I’m tired of being made to carry the burden of listening to arguments that insist that there are forceful conversions and Love jihads. I’m tired of claims that the Mangalore Pub attacks was a Congress conspiracy; I don’t care how much Sonia Gandhi paid for the video. I’m tired this view that the people are just part of a mass, without any agency, without hearts and minds of their own. I’m tired of those who do not understand that irrespective of Sonia Gandhi, women were made to bear the brunt of politics based on religions. I don’t buy these arguments. Period.

Just like I don’t buy arguments about burqas interfering in classroom interactions. Such a view only takes into account a very limited framework that consist of no one else but the teacher and the student. I think we need to take a reality check: students are people, they come from different socio-economic backgrounds, different religious and cultural traditions. They do not appear out of thin air. Each of them are subject to the limitations of their backgrounds. An education might be their key to social mobility, liberty, equality. An educational institute has to take this into consideration when making rules; they simply can’t make rules keeping only the classroom context in mind. I would say a minority institution like St. Aloysius would have to exhibit better concern for other Minority groups. After all, the right to establish minority educational institutions was given so that Minorities could enjoy their rights even in a society that is dominated by another religion. 

And to the second college that has also banned the burqa by not including it in their description of their school/college uniform, does uniform mean the end of all difference? Would that college ban a bindi for example because it’s not specified in the uniform, or make it compulsory for everyone to wear one? Certainly not. The aim of all educational institutions should be making education accessible to all, not throw up obstacles in the way of that access. A uniform is only meant to level socio-economic difference; not to hurt the sentiments of people who might make informed choices on grounds of belief of their faith.

Institutions — educational, religious, social — should take cognisance of the fact that secularism is an ideal of this country. It’s not pseudo in all its forms and avatars. It enables different peoples to access equally; in cases where social heirarchies and economic conditions do not enable equal access, it gives a one up to them.

Institutions cannot make decisions on the behalf of people. It’s finally time to realise that people make choices, yes, really. They’re not always forced. And one statement to all those who will accuse me pseudo-secularism at the end of this post, women in love with Muslim men convert because there’s no question of Hinduism allowing the conversion of a Muslim man. In Islam, there’s at least the promise of horizontal comradeship, of being equals, brothers, not the hierarchised format of the Hindus, who will say their religion and caste are decided by birth. And who converts? People of the “lower castes.” When have they had access to education? Certainly not when they were in the Hindu fold, or rather when they were forced to be the fifth varna, forced out of the Hindu fold. 

And finally, one statement that I want to underline over and over again, women can think independently and take decisions for themselves. Yes, really.