The students of a Kolkata Muslim university appear to have banned a lecturer from teaching because she refused to wear a burkha. That this should happen in a Left-ruled state shows the pathetic depths to which our secularism has sunk.
We need to get our fundamentals right. Everyone in this country derives his or her rights from the Constitution. The primary point in giving individuals rights is that they need protection from society and groups that try to impose their own agendas on people, leading to tyranny.
But tyranny is what the students union of Aliah University has imposed on Sirin Middya, who has declined to wear a burkha on somebody’s diktat. She apparently has no fundamental objections to the burkha, but will not wear it on anyone’s say-so. We hope she sticks to her guns and refuses to bow to union bullies posing as guardians of religiosity in Kolkata.
Liberals in the west have linked the burkha to the suppression of women. While there is no doubt that traditional Muslim society — like many others — has oppressed women, today many Muslim women wear the burkha to emphasise their identities. This is their right, and they should be allowed to do so. But it follows, that those who don’t think the same way should also be allowed to not wear the burkha.
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