All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Maulana Badruddin Ajmal who is notorious for his contentious statements stirred another major row after his controversial recommendation that Muslim women in prestigious professions like IAS, IPS and the medical field should be obligated to put on the hijab during a recent rally in the Karimganj region of Assam on 23rd January.
He maintained that a hijab must be worn by women in these sectors to be acknowledged for their Muslim identities. “If Muslim women do not know how to wear hijab or cover their hair, how will they be recognized as Muslims,” he questioned and added that hijab is compulsory and not an option for Muslim women. He proclaimed, “Hijab is a must. Hair is the devil’s thread, and makeup is the devil’s work.”
He proclaimed, “I’ve seen young women in the other areas go to study with their heads covered in the hijab. They walk with their eyes lowered and head downcast. Nonetheless, girls must continue to wear the hijab in Assam. Our faith requires us to wear a headscarf and keep our hair covered.”
He placed the cornerstone for a mosque and cemetery in Karimganj. Ajmal has courted controversy in Barak before. He previously gained headlines for wearing a lungi, an unusual piece of clothing at the North Karimganj constituency’s foundation stone-laying ceremony.
On 27th October last year, the politician declared that he would repeal the proposed law in Assam that prohibits polygamy if his party were to attain power. He urged, “Those with the ability should consider marrying two wives. I am elderly and unable to take on two wives at this point in my life. They (Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in Assam) will not stay in power forever. At some point, we will come into power and overturn the restrictions imposed on second marriage by the government,” while addressing the media.
A few days earlier on 20th October, he bemoaned that Muslims rank “number 1” in terms of committing crimes like robbery, rape, murder, eve teasing and jail time. The businessman-politician-cleric attributed the high crime rate among Muslims to their lack of education. “Crimes like robbery, dacoity, rape, loot we are No.1 in all. We are also No.1 in going to jail. Our children find no time to go to schools and colleges, but find enough time to gamble, to cheat others. For all such wrong things, ask who’s involved. It’s Muslims and that’s sad.”
He further lamented, “People are going to the moon and the sun, and we are doing a PhD on how to go to jail. Walk into a police station and you would know who’s in absolute majority, Abdur Rahman, Abdur Rahim, Abdul Majid, Badruddin, Sirajuddin and Fakruddin. Isn’t it a sad thing,” while speaking at an event at the Dalgoma Anchalik College, a private institution in Assam’s Goalpara district.
