Discrimination in Rajasthan Schools: Muslim students targeted, labelled ‘chambal ke daaku’ for wearing hijab

From January 2024, news has arrived from Rajasthan that the state’s new chief minister from the BJP, Bhajan Lal Sharma government might be implementing a ‘Hijab ban’ in government schools in the state. Now, reports have come in of Muslim students being barred from a school in the state for wearing the hijab in Rajasthan’s town called Peepar. Students were also called offensive terms and referred to as ‘Chambal ka Daaku’ outside the school, according to a report by The Observer Post. 

The incident took place on February 17 in Government High School Number 2 at Jodhpur’s Peepar. In a video released by Maktoob Media, students from the school can be seen stating that they have even been threatened by the school teachers and have faced severe conditions saying that they are “threatened and tortured every day”. ‘They threaten us that they will not give us marks.’ Students asserted their class teacher, a teacher named Priyanka, had made these statements in the school. 

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After the incident, parents of the students arrived at the school and spoke to the administration and asked for an explanation why their children were turned away. The parents of the schoolgirls claimed that teachers had behaved improperly towards the students. The parents also reportedly stated, “It is very unethical that you are threatening students of reducing their marks if they continue to wear hijab.”

 However, the school principal asserted that the students were barred from school due to a violation of the dress code.

Meanwhile, the social media site X is filled with posts that are designating the parents of the students as ‘radicals.’ A video is making the rounds on social media where presumably the parents of the students are speaking to the police, seemingly agitated that the students are thrown out of school. Many seemingly anonymous accounts have shared the video on the website stating the parents are ‘threatening the school with violence’, or as ‘radicals’.

As anti-Muslim sentiment continues to be shared in schools with the hijab issue, BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya  visited Government Senior Secondary Girls School in the state during Republic Day celebrations on January 26 where videos from the event captured him stating that hijabs should not be allowed in schools. Going further, he took to the school’s stage and chanted slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Saraswati Mata Ki Jai,”  and asked in a taunting manner, ‘whether some girls not chanting it were ‘asked not to.’

Following the incident, Muslim students reportedly filed a complaint at the police station an even organised a protest on the basis that Acharya’s statements disrupted the school atmosphere and demanding an apology. Similarly, BJP minister Kirori Lal Meena has chimed in and stated that, “Hijab is a symbol of slavery brought in by the Mughals.” He has detailed that he will talk to CM Bhajan Lal Sharma regarding the implementation of a ban on hijab. The demand for a dress code in schools been has found support by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as well who are actively supporting it. 

Image courtesy: The Observer Post

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