KOCHI: The hijab row in Kerala has escalated into a full-blown political storm with Muslim organisations launching a statewide campaign to identify schools that restrict students from wearing religious attire, including the headscarf.
The Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) rolled out the survey via Google Forms to collect details of schools imposing such restrictions. Former SKSSF general secretary Sathar Panthaloor circulated the form on Facebook, urging members of the community to “expose” schools violating religious freedom.
“This denial of religious freedom has no legal force and cannot be accepted,” SKSSF state secretary Abdul Samad Pookkottur told TNIE. “The survey aims to identify those responsible for creating communal rift in Kerala’s friendly atmosphere.
The list will be made public so that schools promoting communalism can be held accountable,” he said. The form, he said, was shared among SKSSF and Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama leaders, and the response had been overwhelming. “The campaign is gaining traction among workers and in other platforms,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a strongly worded editorial against Kochi-based St Rita’s School in its mouthpiece Suprabhaatam, the Samastha accused certain groups of attempting to demonise the hijab.
“The innocent narrative of a nun claiming that classmates would be scared of a girl wearing a headscarf is not an isolated remark. It echoes the communal forces clinging to Kerala’s changing social fabric,” said the editorial titled “Communalism that emerges at the sight of the veil.”
It said those defending the headscarf were being unfairly branded as communal, and criticised what it called the hypocrisy of those who chant secularism while objecting to a child’s right to wear a headscarf.
Meanwhile, Pookkottur accused the school of acting without legal or institutional backing. “Hijab and niqab are different. The issue here is just the headscarf. The school diary does not prohibit it; it only mentions uniform rules. So, the management cannot deny a student her right to wear a headscarf,” he told reporters.
National League files police complaint
The National League has filed a formal complaint with the state police chief in the row, alleging a “deliberate political conspiracy” behind the school’s actions. “The involvement of the school authorities in the incident is part of a larger conspiracy to incite communal hatred,” alleged the complaint by National League state organising secretary N K Abdul Azeez.
It alleged that the school’s lawyer and PTA president held meetings with prominent political figures suggested coordinated efforts to spark communal unrest. “Authorities must act swiftly to prevent recurrence of such controversies,” the complaint stated.
