Mumbai: Stand with you Mr Gafoor

Progressive Mumbai Muslim group throws weight behind Kerala education chief threatened after calling for face covering ban

The controversy after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut called for a burqa ban through the party's mouthpiece, Saamna, continues to simmer. Raut's call came after Sri Lanka banned the face covering (veil) in the wake of Islamist terror attacks in the country in which 250 persons were killed.

Any face covering that obscures recognition of the individual is a security threat, and countries in Europe have banned the face veil in public places, citing the same.

Mumbai's Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), which was at the forefront of the 'Haji Ali Sabke Liye' movement ensuring that women have equal access to the city's iconic Haji Ali, applauded Kerala's Muslim Educational Society (MES) for prohibiting girls from wearing "any dress which covers the face" in its 150 educational institutions across the state."

Feroze Mithiborwala

Threatened
The circular by MES State President Fazal Gafoor, who has now complained that he has been threatened, states, "Managers of each MES institution will have to ensure that girl students do not come to the campus with their faces covered. They are hereby asked to include this as a rule on the campus from academic year 2019-20".

The IMSD co-convenors, Javed Anand and Feroze Mithiborwala, point out, "The Raut controversy came after the Sri Lanka attacks. Here, though, the MES circular dated April 19 was issued 'before' the decision of the Sri Lankan government banning the face covering in all public places."

Mithiborwala added that the MES circular further states, "MES aims at the social and cultural progress of the Muslim community, insists that students, even while maintaining
high standards in curricular and extra-curricular activities, do follow certain decorum in dress code too... Under these circumstances, dresses that are unacceptable to mainstream society, whether they are modern or religious – cannot be promoted."

The IMSD concurs with this stand but, "We distance ourselves from the MES' plan of imposing a particular mode of dress as the only 'acceptable' way for Indian women," said Mithiborwala and Anand.

Covered
Both the IMSD founders elaborated, "We are with the MES when it comes to empowerment of Muslim women which is the objective. Fully covered women are not equipped to aspire for civil services, various professions in politics, sports or entrepreneurship." They ended saying, "The IMSD is not even opposed to either the hijab or burqa, it is just the face veil." Both founders slammed the face veil as "a patriarchal imposition and an affront to women."

The MES includes 10 professional colleges, 18 arts and science colleges, 12 higher secondary and 36 CBSE affiliated schools. The IMSD is playing a seminal role in its fight against triple talaq.

Also Read: Mumbai: Burqa ban not demand of Shiv Sena or Uddhav Thackeray, says Sanjay Raut

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