That the firman by the French president on banishing the burkha
from his country was greeted with howls of protest should come as no surprise.
In fact, there is always some political calculation behind such comments. And
both sides are equally adept at playing such games. If the burkha is totally
unacceptable to one camp, it is an absolute religious obligation for the other.
And both argue their case, for or against, with equal fervour. For Sarkozy, it
is a symbol of women’s subjugation; for the other side, it is a symbol of piety.
In India, the battle about the burkha invariably acquires a
communal colour: Muslims vs non-Muslims. When Sarkozy talks of the burkha as a
symbol of slavery and argues for its ban, the intent again is to feed
Islamophobia in Europe and the United States. For any serious discussion about
ending women’s exploitation or suppression we must first accept that neither
fanatic Muslims nor the consumerist West treats women as human beings. If it is
the burkha here, it is topless dance clubs there. But those bent on promoting
the "clash of civilisations" discourse are obviously not interested in viewing
the issue from a gender perspective.
Besides, to talk of such bans in a democratic country is
counterproductive. Where then does one find the scope or space for public debate
as the route to social reform? But the most disturbing aspect of this attempt to
push people into different camps on the basis of religion, region or nationality
is that it robs them of their identity as human beings. Thus human beings become
invisible and all that we perceive is their constructed identity. In doing so we
effectively subvert the discourse on a woman as an autonomous human being
entitled to make her own decisions.
If we do subscribe to the idea of a woman as an autonomous human
being, we must be committed to creating a social environment within which it
becomes possible for her to think for herself and make her own decisions. When
people are forced into a ghettoised existence, where an entire community is
viewed with suspicion, there is little scope for the women to make their own
choices. While this is the larger social reality, fanatical elements within the
community take full advantage of the situation.
A maulana said to me, "Women who do not wear the burkha will go
to hell." I asked him whether he or Allah would decide who goes to hell: If this
is a matter between Allah and Muslim women, why are you getting involved? The
maulana was quick to add that he was not talking of compulsion or force. "Just
as well," I responded, "You certainly should not be talking of compulsion or
forcibly enforcing the wearing of the burkha. In any case, you have no choice in
the matter in a democracy such as ours."
All I am trying to say is that we need to be simultaneously
concerned about the empowerment of the Muslim community and Muslim women and
this is only possible within a secular, democratic polity committed to the ideal
of social justice.
Every attempt to impose the burkha in India has met with
protests from Muslim women. Just as no one has the right to force a woman not to
wear a burkha, no one has the right to force her to wear it. Born and brought up
in a farming milieu, I was taught modesty in dress and conduct. But no one ever
insisted that modesty necessarily meant donning a burkha. Based on my experience
as an activist, I can say that a large majority of Muslim women in India hold
the same view.
When the Lashkar-e-Jabbar wanted to impose the burkha on
Kashmiri women, they protested strongly, ignoring the threat of the bullet. At
one point the Muslim League attempted to enforce the burkha in Mumbai but there
too Muslim women resisted it.
The burkha which has now become an international issue is
nothing but the politics of milking a non-issue. In the process, the discourse
is centred entirely round people’s religious identity, not their human identity.
The common man or woman makes decisions about his or her life in his or her own
way, basing them on their own lived experience. Issues of faith and belief are
as much a part of the decision-making process as the realities of everyday
existence. We must learn to respect and trust in their ability to think and make
choices for themselves instead of behaving like autocrats.
Which brings us back to square one: Do we or do we not consider
women to be autonomous human beings?