The recent massive ban on the eight organisations led by the PFI (Popular Front of India) highlights how women are merely pawns in these so-called neo-social-political movements.
Women are used for these political causes to rouse gender sentiment among people.
Many Muslim women in India have come out as pro-hijab and for the right to freedom of choice to pick their attire.
Unfortunately, they are blind to the reasoning behind the hijab or the ghunghaat.
Both are ways of conditioning women to make them the culprits, and therefore they must cover themselves from the unhindered lust of men. This lust, unchecked, isn’t punishable. The skewed logic is the woman whose clothing is revealing, which leads to the man lusting after her.
The morality and good social conduct of a man once again fall under the accountability of a woman.
As per the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 4,28,278 cases of crime against women were registered in 2021, up from 3,71,503 cases in 2020, registering an increase of 56,775 cases this year, marking a 15% increase.
It is the covering up of women that remains the modus operandi for safety. In Cameroon, young girls when they attain puberty have their breasts ironed by their mothers, and sometimes grandmothers, to avoid rape.
Even today, there is Female Gender Mutilation (FGM), which is a part of the Dawoodi Bohras of India. It is called khafz. This practice is offensive, oppressive, harmful, and not religious at all. The practice is simply a hangover of patriarchy and it is done to repress women sexually. The role of her genitalia is viewed to be limited to giving birth to progeny.
FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts. It’s illegal in the UK and is child abuse. This can seriously harm the health of women and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth, and mental health.
These forms of oppression have been carried out throughout history, using women as a means to curtail crime, lust, and power.
The hijabi women of Iran too were used shrewdly by Ayatollah Khomeini to bring down the monarchy, and again the same man has ordered a free hand to the moral police of Iran to kill any woman who disobeys the hijab law.
What women fail to understand is that hijab or ghungaat is an archaic way to protect oneself from gender violence. By no means, a woman in a hijab can avoid rape as much as a woman in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. Violence doesn’t see the clothing as an encouragement; it is the mindset of the criminal.
In India too, multiple women have suddenly donned the hijab in classrooms and are vocal about the right of choice. This isn’t a choice, but a brainwash that must be addressed.
The PFI has been allegedly accused of the sudden commotion of young impressionable girls who have been manipulated to be pro hijab and has also been vocalising the freedom to wear the same.
To know a little about the PFI, it was created in 2007 through the merger of three Muslim organisations in southern India; the National Democratic Front in Kerala, the Karnataka Forum for Dignity, and the Manitha Neethi Pasarai in Tamil Nadu. This grew bigger and wider.
A decision to bring the three outfits together was taken in November 2006 at a meeting in Kozhikode, Kerala. The formation of the PFI was formally announced at a rally in Bengaluru during what was called the ‘Empower India Conference’ on February 16, 2007. The very women who took part in the rally forgot that the empowerment of women is to be free and not hide under the hijab or be the moral keepers of the men who have no such rules in society.
PFI’s national general secretary, Nasaruddin Elamarom, is one of the founding leaders of the outfit. The chairman of NDF National Development from an outfit under PFI, E. Abubaker, also hails from Kerala. Both attempted to arouse religious sentiment and used pro-hijab conditioning to support this movement.
The raids, coordinated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and state police, took place across 13 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar. The officials mentioned that the searches took place at the premises of the people involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations.
We are yet to see how many feminist groups will come forth and talk against the hijab and the ghungaat tradition, which is merely an eye wash to curtail women’s ability to reach their full potential.”We realise the power of our voices only when they are silenced, “said Husna Sait, a bridal couturier for the brand Limited Edition,
“I strongly feel for the women in Iran. Choices are basic, fundamental rights. As a Muslim woman, I have made the active choice of not wearing the hijab. Many of my family women do. In my opinion, this is something that you should do if you believe in it. It can’t be imposed, “ Husna added.
It must not be portrayed as a religious protest but as a voice against misogyny and patriarchy.
Mohua Chinappa is an author and a podcaster of a show called The Mohua Show.