'Hijab comes later, education comes first': Assam CM Sarma backs Hijab row verdict

Hailing the Karnakata HC's Hijab verdict on Tuesday, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma contended that this was the right step towards implementing the Quran's diktat. Speaking to the media, he opined that students should focus on education rather than a religious dress. Maintaining that students are free to wear the attire of their choice outside the classrooms, he assuaged the concerns of Muslims asserting that the verdict is not against them. 

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma remarked, "As far as my knowledge of the Quran, a Muslim's foremost duty is to take education. The time for Hijab comes later. Education comes first. We should not make the school a forum for competition between religious dress. Neither Hindus should wear their religious dress nor Muslims should wear their religious dress. They should wear the school uniform. Everyone can wear anything at home. There is no restriction on that."

"That's why the Karnataka High Court's verdict is logical. No Muslim brother or sister should feel that this judgment is against us. Rather, the judgment is the right step towards implementing the diktat of the Quran," he added. 

The Hijab verdict

Earlier on Tuesday, the Karnataka HC bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justices Krishna Dixit and JM Khazi ruled that Hijab is not an essential religious practice. It was hearing the plea of students of Government P.U. College for Girls, Udupi who sought permission to attend classes wearing a Hijab and a direction to the effect that it is an "essential practice" of Islam.

In its judgment panning 129 pages, the court has eloquently answered key questions pertaining to the Hijab row and stressed that the prescription of the school uniform is only a reasonable restriction that students cannot object to.

The judgment observed, "There is absolutely no material placed on record to prima facie show that wearing of hijab is a part of an essential religious practice in Islam and that the petitioners have been wearing hijab from the beginning. This apart, it can hardly be argued that hijab being a matter of attire, can be justifiably treated as fundamental to Islamic faith. It is not that if the alleged practice of wearing hijab is not adhered to, those not wearing hijab become the sinners, Islam loses its glory and it ceases to be a religion." 

"Young students are able to readily grasp from their immediate environment, differentiating lines of race, region, religion, language, caste, place of birth, etc. The aim of the regulation is to create a ‘safe space’ where such divisive lines should have no place and the ideals of egalitarianism should be readily apparent to all students alike. Adherence to dress code is a mandatory for students," it elaborated.