By Sidharth Mishra

In 1993, after a long hiatus, the city had in place a popular government. BJP leader Madanlal Khurana became Chief Minister, the first to occupy the chair after the assembly was dissolved in 1956.

The 1990s was also the time when mosquito driven ailment Dengue started to make its formidable presence in the city. Khurana’s cabinet had a young medical professional, Dr Harshvardhan, as Health Minister. In the midst of one of those early Dengue waves, Delhi government had issued a notification asking the schools to replace skirts with trousers for the girl students to cover their legs.

This led to a hue and cry with rights groups pointing out that it was a move towards the saffronisation of education. The government was at pains to point out that Aedes aegypti, the dengue and other related fever causing virus attacked during morning hours and in the lower portion of the body, thus the precaution advisory. But there weren’t many takers for it.

Now the activists are fighting for allowing girls to be fully covered. The issue recently gained attention when the students at a high school in Karnataka’s Udupi district resented at what was termed as hijab ban. The college, on the other hand, said it allowed students to wear the hijab on campus but had asked them to take it off inside the classroom.

It snow-balled into a controversy leading to street protests and closure of schools and colleges. The matter is now in the High Court and even the foreign nations see an opportunity to fish in the troubled waters. Is there a crisis or just a controversy?

Incidentally there is also a ‘liberal’ interpretation to wearing hijab. According to this definition, women who choose to wear the hijab do so to retain their modesty, morals and freedom of choice. They choose to cover because they believe it is liberating and allows them to avoid harassment.

Whatever the argument in the support of hijab, the fact remains hijab and the Arabic scarf which the Muslim men wear these days was something unknown till the turn of the century. On the Delhi University campus in our time, that 1980s, we had lots of college mates coming from the minority-dominated walled city area and one doesn’t remember anybody coming wearing a hijab, a skull camp or a scarf. 

In fact the Urdu department of the colleges on the North Campus, which almost completely had Muslim teachers and students, these signs of religion was not known. In fact, some of the women teachers and students carried ‘burqa’ in their large bags, which they probably wore on entering the four walls of the old city.

So was the story among the Hindus with temple visits on Tuesday for paying obeisance to ever popular Lord Hanuman being reserved for evenings after the college hours. In fact there would also be protest from some of the non-Muslim residents for keeping the mess menu completely vegetarian on Tuesday. Anyway the vegetarian content of the menu for Tuesdays was not in deference to any religious sentiments but on account of Delhi government abattoir having its weekly closure on Tuesday.

Religion on campus largely remained personal affair and celebrations bridging religious divide. One is not sure if the same cultural environment prevails on Delhi University campus.

It’s difficult to believe that the campus would have remained untouched by the toxic environment prevailing all around. Hopefully the turmoil remains restricted to one district of a state and doesn’t spread, the chances of which are very high. The Campuses of the country can definitely have better issues to debate on than lock horns on religious symbols.

(The writer is Author and President, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice)