Sonam Kapoor questions why turban is seen as ‘choice’ but not hijab amid row

Sonam Kapoor weighed in on the raging hijab controversy in Karnataka and asked why turbans can be a choice but a hijab cannot. She shared a post on Instagram Stories, featuring a picture collage. On the left was an image of a man in a turban, with the text underneath saying, “This can be a choice.” It was juxtaposed with a photo of a woman wearing a hijab and the text below said, “But this can’t?”

The hijab row started when six girls came to a government-run college in Udupi wearing headscarves citing their faith, which was met with resistance from a section of students, who turned up at the college wearing saffron scarves. The tension escalated as the protests spread to other parts of Karnataka. Violence at one college forced the police to resort to lathi-charge.

Subsequently, the Karnataka government announced a three-day holiday from Wednesday for high schools and pre-university colleges to avoid any further disturbances and untoward incidents on campuses.

At present, the Karnataka High Court is hearing a petition challenging hijab restrictions in educational institutions. In its interim order, the court said, “We request the state government and all other stakeholders to reopen the educational institutions and allow the students to return to the classes at the earliest. Pending consideration of all these petitions, we restrain all the students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls (Bhagwa), scarfs, hijab, religious flags or the like within the classroom, until further orders.”

Several Bollywood celebrities have reacted to the ongoing controversy. Javed Akhtar said that he was not in favour of hijab or burqa but condemned ‘mobs of hooligans who are trying to intimidate a small group of girls’. Kangana Ranaut, meanwhile, made an indirect comment on the issue.

Also see: Kangana Ranaut says ‘show courage by not wearing burqa in Afghanistan’ amid Karnataka hijab controversy. See post

“If you want to show courage, show it by not wearing burqa in Afghanistan. Learn to break free, not cage yourself,” Kangana wrote on Instagram Stories, sharing a post juxtaposing women in Iran wearing swimwear in 1973 and clad in burqas almost 50 years later.

(With inputs from PTI)