V P Suhra, who has always been at the forefront of the fight for Muslim women’s rights, recently removed her headscarf in public to protest against a Muslim religious leader’s disparaging remark on women who opt not to wear the headscarf. What triggered Suhra’s act was a comment made by Umar Faizi Mukkam, a leader of the Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama, a group of Sunni scholars in the state. He said in an interview that women who want to do away with the hijab are those who prefer a “wayward and immoral life”. Suhra said her act of rebellion publicly proved that her integrity remained the same with and without the scarf.
Muslim headscarves have been a talking point in the state’s political circles for some time. It started with a statement by CPM state committee member A P Anilkumar that his party’s intervention had emboldened the Muslim women in Malappuram to say no to those trying to impose the headscarf. It stoked a controversy among Muslim organisations and the Indian Union Muslim League reacted sharply. Though Anilkumar’s statement was not incorrect in the changing socio-political contexts of the region, the CPM leadership quickly distanced itself from the assertion. The party sensed that taking ownership of such a transition, although a progressive choice, would not augur well while it is desperately trying to woo the Muslim community. CPM state secretary M V Govindan declared that the choice of dress is a fundamental right and there was no need for anyone to interfere with it.
This context makes Suhra’s decision to remove her headscarf all the more remarkable. The issue here is not whether the hijab should be worn or not, but that it is the right of an individual to select dresses for himself or herself. When the Karnataka government did not allow hijab-clad girls in classrooms, many viewed it as a denial of basic rights. At the same time, anti-hijab protests raged in Iran when a girl who had been picked up by the police for not wearing the hijab died in custody. Hundreds of women stormed the streets of Iran, cutting their hair and removing their hijab in public. What a woman decides to wear has to be her choice alone; nobody should be allowed to meddle with it. It is time religious scholars and politicians accepted this.