The Congress Party’s 3,570-kilometer march dubbed the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” began on September 7 in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The march will take five months and will pass through twelve states before ending in Srinagar. As the Congress party fights for its survival, the presently revered supreme figure of the Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, is attempting to appease sections of society that are seemingly disgruntled with Congress and garner support to revive his moribund political fortunes.
In a similar attempt, Rahul Gandhi roped in a minor girl wearing a hijab while walking in the Yatra in Kerala, indicating support for the hijab when the whole world is opposing the oppressive practice of repressing women. The image of Rahul Gandhi with a minor girl in burkha was shared on the Twitter handle of Congress, implying how Rahul Gandhi was acceptable of the attire that has been used as an instrument of repression by the Muslim fundamentalists.
चलो प्यारे साथी…बढ़ाएं कदम।
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 19, 2022
वतन के सपनों को मंजिल तक पहुंचाएं हम।।#BharatJodoYatra 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/yw9aNl7aob
The controversy around the hijab in India started in Karnataka where a bunch of school-going girls insisted on wearing the Islamic outfit inside educational institutions. As the High Court rejected their plea to be allowed to wear hijab/burqa in educational institutions, the matter is sub judice before the supreme court of India. In such a situation, posing with a girl wearing a hijab tells a lot about the mentality of the Congress party and its leaders.
Global protests against intensifies after the death of an Iranian woman in custody
This move from Congress comes at a time when thousands of women across the world are protesting against the repressive practice of hijab. Women in Iran are publicly discarding their hijab in protest of the imposition of the hijab. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died after being imprisoned by Iranian officials for not covering her hair. Amini was held by Iran’s ‘Morality Police’ for wearing the Hijab in an ‘improper manner,’ since she had not completely covered her hair. The ‘Morality Police’ detained her and tortured her in the police van as she was transported to a detention centre for a “re-education lesson.” However, given the heritage of the Congress party, it won’t be difficult to accept what Rahul Gandhi is promoting, viz repression.
It seems Rahul Gandhi was quite serious when he stated that he was fighting the Indian state and not any political party. After patronizing a controversial Catholic priest with a lengthy history of making provocative statements on Hindus and Indian heritage and culture, Rahul Gandhi has now resorted to defending the hijab, a practice that is grossly repressive, and also detrimental to the social fabric of the country. Well, it would not be too difficult a chore for Rahul Gandhi to spend nights in luxurious containers equipped with Air Conditioners and other facilities while ingratiating himself and his party with patriarchal Islamists who seek to deprive women of their agency and condition them into wearing hijabs.
With support for the hijab, Congress seeks to gain support among Muslim fundamentalists while sacrificing the rights of Muslim women
Across the world, Muslim women have been protesting against hijabs, which Islamic fundamentalists regard as sine qua non in their public life. Since the Taliban assumed control of Afghanistan and imposed the hijab obligation on women, Afghan women have been protesting against the diktat they assert robs them of their agency and is a symbol of Islamic misogyny. For a long time, wearing a hijab in public has been a sensitive topic. Several Muslim women from varied socioeconomic levels have spoken out against the compulsion to wear the hijab. It is, nevertheless, normal for Congress to use a divisive subject in order to acquire votes and, hence, power.
Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has already openly admitted that his party is targeting India’s whole infrastructure, claiming that the Centre has taken control of all democratic institutions in the country. He has declared several times that he is challenging the Indian system rather than any political party. Such actions, in which Rahul Gandhi supports a regressive practice like the hijab, substantiate his remarks about subverting the Indian system.
The messaging comes at a crucial time when the matter is being heard in the Supreme Court. When Muslim women across the globe are openly demonstrating against the hijab mandate without the fear of repercussions, the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi are sending a message that no matter what, they’d continue to stand with the Muslim fundamentalists as they always did. Be it the Shah Bano case in the 1980s or the hijab row in 2022, despite the intervening decades, the Congress party have made it clear that it would continue with its policy of sacrificing the interests of Muslim women at the altar of hardline fundamentalists.
