INDIA NEWS
Feb 16-28, 2022 - Vol 2, Issue 15
EDITORIAL
From the editor's desk Hijab or no hijab: A fundamental question Religious tourism and economy: The case of Kashi Vishwanath Dham O By Kumar Mihir
Bloomsberg
S
ince 2014 there has been a significant rise in the media debate, national discourse and public imagination on India’s ancient culture, heritage and religious practices. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government at the centre since 2014 and Yogi Adityanath led government in Uttar Pradesh since 2017 have galvanized Hindu consciousness which is expected to yield enormous economic benefits to the state and central exchequers. Be it the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj in 2019, or the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya or most recently the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor (KVC) by PM Modi in Varanasi, religious tourism is going to generate significant revenue for both center and the state, given the fact that 60% of India’s tourism has a religious purpose as well. The Kashi Vishwanth Dham (KVD) and Corridor is the latest jewel in the crown of India’s religious tourism which along with the beautification of the ghats, cleaning of the Ganges, upgradation of the Varanasi and Maduadih railway stations, airport to city road construction, decongestion and traffic regulation in the old city near the Kashi Vishwanth Dham have all metamorphosized Varanasi’s appeal for tourists. KVD has been the dream project of PM Modi across a sprawling 50,000 sq meters of area, completed in 21 months at the cost of Rs. 345 crores, using seven types of stones from Makarana in Rajasthan. In the KVD vicinity 300 building were purchased for 339 croresto clear the land for the KVD and KVC. The KVC itself covers 5.3 lakh square feet of area including 80 feet long and 40 feet wide parikrama path. In the process of acquiring land the government regained control of over 40 ancient temples hidden inside private homes in the area. An 80-step pathway and an escalator has also been provided for pilgrims to visit the temple after taking a dip in the holy Ganges. Despite the Omicron variant, a 20% jump in tourism has
www.indianews.com.au
been recorded in the Kashi and Ayodhya circuit, and soon Vrindavan and Mathura will be added to the list. Kashi’s syncretic culture and appeal — which has been attracting tourists for time memorial to the Buddhists centre of learning- Sarnath, magnificent ghats, the holy Ganges, Banarasisaree trade and also as a centre of ancient learning where the saints like MahakaviTulsidas who wrote the Ram Charitmanas at Tulsi Ghat and Sant Kabir, and Raja Harishchandra - the epitome of honesty and self-righteousness became immortalized in India’s spiritual consciousness — will receive a further boost, courtesy the KVD. When it comes to religious tourism, the general imagination is that of tourists over 45 years of age thronging tourist sites, but interestingly, in recent years the millennials and youth between 18 and 35 have been powering India’s religious tourism. In the latest Union budget there is an increase of Rs 2400 crores for bolstering tourism infrastructure, marketing, promotion and capacity building which will benefit the hard hit hospitality sector, small businesses, local shopkeepers, tour operators, handicraft and cottage industry, andthe local public and transport infrastructure. The India Brand Equity Foundation believes that the five-year tax holiday for 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels around the UNESCO heritage sites will also benefit Varanasi. Additionally, the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme increase from Rs 50,000 croresto Rs. five lakh crores and extension until March 2023 will resuscitate the hospitality and SME sector significantly. IBEF also forecasts that tourism-based revenue in India is expected to jump from Rs 15.24 trillion (US$234.03 billion) in 2017 to Rs. 32.05 trillion (US$429.21 bn) in 2028, and cities like Kashi will be one of the key contributors to that jump.
n February 5, the Karnataka government, passed an order in exercise of its powers under Section 133 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, inter-alia directing that in colleges that come under the pre-university education department's jurisdiction, the uniforms mandated by the College Development Committee, or the board of management, should be worn and in the event, the management does mandate a uniform, students should wear clothes that are in the interests of unity, equality, and public order. When this order was sought to be implemented by the Government PU Colleges in Udupi which barred few girls from wearing hijab and insisted on implementing a uniform dress code, few girls opposed the ban which for political reasons evolved into agitations and counter agitations, first across Karnataka and subsequently, to other parts of the country, supporting or opposing the right to wear hijabs in classrooms. Therefore, a fundamental question arises as to whether Article 25 of the Constitution protects the right of students to wear hijabs in class rooms which will now be decided by the Karnataka High Court and most probably by the Honourable Supreme Court. A similar controversy arose in 2003 when the Bombay High Court in the case of Fatima Hussain Syed v/s Bharat Education Society and Others, ruled that it was not a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution for the principal to prohibit the wearing of headscarf or head covering in the school. Further in 2018, the Honourable Kerala High Court in its judgment dated December 4, 2018 titled Fathima Thasneem (Minor) vs State of Kerala & Others had sought to balance the fundamental right of a woman to have the choice of dress based on religious injunctions and the fundamental right to establish, manage and administer an institution. In the said background, the Kerala High Court held that individual rights/ interest must give yield to the larger public interest and therefore, it is for the institution
to decide whether the petitioners can be permitted to attend the classes with the headscarf and full sleeve shirt and if a student does not wish to abide by the dress code, they can seek Transfer Certificate. However, despite the said decision, the said dispute is being raised again and has now attained the status of a national debate only due to vested political interest and ongoing elections in several states wherein people have started to take extreme positions where one side is insisting on hijabs and the other side is insisting on wearing saffron shawls and scarves in class rooms. It is a settled legal position that no fundamental right is absolute in nature. Article 25 of the Constitution which provides the fundamental right to profess, practice and propagate a religion is also subject to restrictions in the interest of public order, morality, health and other interests of the State. Even assuming that wearing hijab is a religious practice, the same is not absolute and must give way to larger interests of public order and state. The said position has also been upheld by the Honourable Supreme Court in Asha Ranjan and others v/s State of Bihar and others (2017) holding that individual interest must yield to the larger public interest. Thus, conflict over competing rights can be resolved not by negating individual rights but by upholding the larger right to remain, to hold such relationships between institutions and students. A uniform dress code is introduced with an objective to bring homogeneity and a sense of uniformity and to implement a sense of order and discipline amongst the students and any insistence on deviating from the said dress code, defeats the said objective. The right to establish and administer an institution under Article 19(1)(g) or Article 29 & 30 will also include the right to maintain order and discipline in the same and if the institutional rules are not followed by a student, the institution has a right to deny entry to that student as well. For example, if an institution prohibits burqa or short skirts or lungis in class, the students cannot insist on wearing the same
on the ground that the right to wear a cloth as per their choice at all places is their fundamental right and therefore the same must also be allowed in schools and colleges. Similarly, if a minority institution mandates hijabs as part of their mandatory dress code, no student can deny to wear the same on the ground that wearing them violates their religion. Therefore, the larger question i.e. whether wearing hijab is an essential practice of Islam and therefore, the students have a fundamental right to wear hijabs is only being stoked due to vested political interests and Courts must be very careful in dealing with the same as the same will directly affect the unity and social fabric of our country. Further, even if the same is held to be a fundamental right, the same must be subject to restrictions which must include a respect for the dress code sought to be implemented by the Institution. We also need to understand that banning hijabs or other face covering from school uniforms is not confined to our country or something unique being imposed by the ruling party. In 2011, France banned burqa covering the face in public schools and barred students from displaying any form of religious symbols. Subsequently, several other countries such as Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, China, Austria, Bulgaria, and Sri Lanka amongst others have imposed a ban on hijabs and other facial and head coverings on public transportation, in government buildings and at health and education institutions. Painting all these countries as Islamophobic on account of the ban imposed by them, may not be correct. Public security, sense of equality and checking religious extremism have been a valid reason for upholding the ban on the hijab, which anyways is perceived as a symbol of women oppression and no freedom of choice can be allowed to trump these valid concerns of the society at large. "What to wear in a classroom is not important, what to learn is" and therefore, instead of fighting for wearing hijab in classrooms, we need to fight for better teachers, laboratories and colleges which is the need of the hour.
What is more heartening that the youth of India will not only push India’s economic growth but also deepen the connections between India past heritage and culture and modernity and youth.
(The author is Advocate-onRecord in Supreme Court of India)
facebook.com/indianewsaustralia
22
