Why issues from ‘namaaz’ to ‘hijab’ surface only in BJP-ruled states, not elsewhere?

I love scarves.

Silk or chiffon, colourful, plain or printed.

I have a wardrobe overflowing with scarves to match every outfit I own and over the years I have tried out and succeeded with complicated styles of draping the fabric round my throat and shoulders, feeling quite the Regency Gentleman who used to spend hours perfecting his cravat, knots and flows and all. On occasion, when I have wandered into a gurudwara, it has also covered my head, though the florals I prefer make an incongruous head covering.

But it is my choice to wear scarves. I would never dictate to anyone to wear one, particularly after I scorched my fingers once by trying to persuade a beloved niece to try out a scarf. She looked reluctant – both to defy me and to wear one, and her mother jumped to her rescue by decreeing, “a scarf is too old for her. She is young yet. It suits you, it wouldn’t suit her.”

I realised I had been politely snubbed and labelled too old to be up with youthful fashion and retreated into my corner to lick my wounds, swearing I would never interfere again with anyone’s choices, be it even a beloved niece who might find it difficult to resist even a suggestion, let alone a command.

But even if my niece was reluctant to tell me where to get off when I suggested she wear a scarf, I know what she would say to those who are attempting to score political points by donning saffron scarves to counter the wearing of hijabs by some girls at college – "b…off!" would be her uncomplimentary and unladylike snort to the saffron bigots and the next day she would wear a hijab to her own classes to make her point about freedom of choice. (Thank God, she did not tell me to b…off, for then I would still be in the wrong for provoking her into that unsavoury reaction and she would have been justified in losing it temporarily.)

Now what are the girls in Karnataka demanding except the right to dress as they please? They want to cover their heads, not to show any skin that might provoke bigots and boors with less control on their senses, so I do not see why anyone should have objections to anyone wishing to wear a hijab or a burqa. Unless it is the opposite?

They are upset that Hindu women won't cover their heads any longer (they may well ask the bigots to b…off), and this is a roundabout way of getting Hindu girls into head scarves and that too saffron ones to boot?

I recall there were some rowdy boys, among them a chief minister’s grandsons at a college who got their friends to don shorts to college and other places, then ran riot in that city demanding girls wear only mini-skirts rather than salwar kameeezes. The law enforcement agencies came down heavily on those boys, including the highly connected ones and after cooling their heels for a while, they simply disappeared, never to trouble the girls again.

Currently, the BJP however is desperately attempting polarisation in Uttar Pradesh and the route is going through various states like Haryana and Karnataka. Now that Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is done and dusted and the Kashi Vishwanath drama has not enthused the people as much as had been hoped, they feel compelled to engineer polarisation through other routes. They started with trying to drive out namaazis from roads and open grounds in Gurgaon but then two things happened – there were no riots and, worse, Hindu shopkeepers around those areas opened their doors to the namaazis and invited them indoors to say their prayers. That must have horrified the BJP but they could always depend upon Asaduddin Owaisi to polarise the UP elections.

But when even a probably stage-managed attack on his car (the bullet hit a harmless part of his tyre and did not even pierce the windshield - even a random sharp shooter on a supari in Bombay would have done a better job) did not bring much angst to the Muslim voters or glee to the Hindu ones, the BJP is now trying to resurrect a lost cause with the Karnataka imbroglio.

This is something which many others recognise for when some groups in Mumbai and Maharashtra decided to hold a demonstration in support of the wearing of the hijab, Maharashtra Minister for Home Dilip Walse-Patil was soft yet firm – do not protest against something that has not happened in your state - and it never will, he assured. Do not make this into a national issue, leave it be as a local problem that Karnataka should resolve on its own, he said.

In other words, do not add fuel to the fire and polarise the issue which would only help the BJP in Uttar Pradesh where, by most accounts, it is having an uphill task to retain its past performance.

The speeches of Yogi Aditynath and Narendra Modi tell us of their growing frustration - for now, from just targeting Muslims, they are beginning to target a wide sweep of states, from Kashmir to Kerala with Maharashtra thrown in for good measure.

Then, again, an assembly election is due in Karnataka next year and the BJP cannot be sure after the way it broke up the Congress to buy its legislators, it can win those polls, particularly with a smarting BS Yeddiyurappa who can destroy their chances to avenge his removal as chief minister (he has done it before under similar circumstances) and an incumbent chief minister who has not been steeped in saffron since birth and so may not carry the kind of conviction a born bigot would.

An inkling of this is already visible in Goa and Uttarakhand where incumbent chief ministers are unable to take the people along, all of who are craving for a better life than being just bound up between saffron bigots and Muslim issues – note, I do not mention Muslim reactionaries because apart from Owaisi who is playing to the saffron tune (indeed he has to, to protect his younger brother from being hauled up for his extremist comment some years ago about killing all Hindus in 15 minutes if police were removed for that brief time), not many Muslims are publicly protesting against the BJP’s extreme, unconstitutional practices these days.

That is what frustrates them the most and, from attacking mosques, now they have descended to attacking young girls on head scarves, a sartorial choice, even within the religion for not everybody who is Muslim wears them. From asking their followers to wear saffron 'langots' instead of pristine white underwear (demeaning in itself for the wearer) to heckling young girls wearing scarves and burqas, BJP displays an utter lack of not just civilisational refinement but also its utter poverty in terms of intellectual heft and cognitive understanding of what moves the people of India. They may have fooled some of the people for a time but bread and butter issues matter more to all people than scarves, fun clothing, essential or otherwise.

The bigots are scraping the bottom of the barrel, both intellectually and morally and soon there will be not much lower for them to descend.

(The writer is Consulting Editor, National Herald, Mumbai. Views are personal)