Kerala School Girl’s Rights Cannot be Trampled by Communal Forces

The decision of the authorities of the St. Rita’s Public School at Palluruthy in Ernakulam district, Kerala, stopping a Muslim girl from wearing a headscarf in the classroom on the grounds that school uniform policies do not allow it is a very unfortunate development which could vitiate the communal peace and social cohesion in the state.

The school management, run by the Latin Catholic Church, claimed that according to the uniform policy of the school, the students are allowed to wear only pants, shirt and an overcoat while in the school premises. When the Muslim girl came to the school wearing a headscarf, she was stopped from entering the premises, resulting in the girl not attending the class for the past few days. The matter is now under the consideration of the Kerala High Court. The girl’s parents, who had announced that they would ask for a transfer certificate for the girl in order to move her to some other school, have said that they would wait until the High Court gives an order on the girl’s right to continue in the school with a headscarf.

It is very evident that the school authorities and the Church officials were raking it up with some ulterior movies. Kerala is a multicultural society with various community groups coexisting without much friction or communal tensions, but in recent times there have been several attempts to whip up communal passions. The Muslim community has been regularly attacked with such nonsensical allegations like Love Jihad, Narcotic Jihad, etc, which were raised by leaders of the Christian Church as well as the Hindutva forces, without a semblance of proof. The Kerala High Court itself had found that allegations of Love Jihad, where Muslim youths were allegedly targeting girls from Hindu, Christian communities for the purpose of their religious conversion, was without any basis.

In recent times, Kerala’s Christian community leaders seem to have come closer to the Sangh Parivar leadership, thanks to their positions of power at the Centre and several states. The Church authorities have vast resources and institutions of various types at their command and many of them also receive huge amounts of foreign donations. Hence their interest in currying favour with the Sangh Parivar and the Central Government run by the BJP.

These mutual relations based on vested interests have grown much deeper in recent times and the victory of BJP candidate Suresh Gopi in a Christian dominated constituency like Thrissur in the last Lok Sabha elections is a clear example of how the Sangh Parivar outfits have been gaining political mileage out of it. The objective of BJP and its allies is to gain electoral power in the state, which had so far kept such forces out of political power. But with support from the Church and also some disgruntled groups within the majority Hindu community, they hope to gain strength to reach positions of power in the state.

The Muslims as a community are resisting this rightwing upsurge in the state, where even the left forces like the ruling CPI(M) are often seen kowtowing to the communal arguments to gain support from such fascist elements. Their opportunistic positions are actually emboldening the rightwing forces, which could eventually destroy the secular social fabric of the state. What is required is a determined resistance to the communal and fascist elements, who are targeting Muslims with a view to divide the state into divergent communal camps. The Islamophobic campaign in Kerala in recent years is part of a deep conspiracy in which the Sangh Parivar and the Church seem to be willing partners.

Hence the need for a sober and well-thought out strategy on the part of the Muslim community when faced with such provocative actions. The community leaders and the parents of the girl have taken the line that they would wait for the High Court decision on her right to continue in the school upholding her religious identity and faith. In fact, the Constitution guarantees such rights and the position taken by the school management refusing her right to keep her hair covered is palpably illegal.

P Abdul Majeed Faizy
National General Secretary
Social Democratic Party of India