Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at the Allahabad High Court’s verdict dismissing a minor student’s plea to wear a hijab along with her school uniform, calling it an “attack on Islam,” while also renewing his attack on the RSS and BJP over the Manusmriti and questioning the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) moves in Assam and Uttarakhand.
Owaisi was addressing the Jalsa-e-Rahmatul-lil-Alameen at AIMIM headquarters, Darussalam, on Tuesday, August 25, on the occasion of the 1501st Eid Milad-un-Nabi.
Hijab verdict “an attack on Islam”
Speaking at the gathering, Asaduddin Owaisi said he disagreed with the Allahabad High Court’s order and questioned why the court delivered a ruling on religious essentiality while a related matter, the Sabarimala case, is still pending before a nine-judge Supreme Court bench.
“A judgment came from the Allahabad High Court. A girl was wearing a hijab to school, and the court ruled that one cannot wear a hijab. I disagree with this High Court judgment; I do not concur with it. The Sabarimala case is already before the Supreme Court, where nine judges are deciding what is essential. Today’s verdict violates Articles 25 and 19 of the Indian Constitution. Who are you to decide what is essential to Islam? Girls are wearing hijab on their heads, not on their minds. It is an attack on Islam,” Owaisi said.
The Allahabad High Court had dismissed a petition filed by a student from a school in Prayagraj seeking permission to wear a hijab with the prescribed uniform. The court observed that the petitioner had not produced any religious material to establish that wearing a headscarf is an essential part of the Islamic faith, and noted that other students from the same community were seen without scarves in photographs submitted before it.
A division bench of Justices JJ Munir and Indrajit Shukla held that a uniform, non-discriminatory dress code framed in good faith falls within a school’s jurisdiction, and that the student’s earlier years of wearing a scarf without objection did not create an enforceable right to alter the uniform policy in the future.
The student had passed her Class 10 from the same school and sought admission to Class 11, when the school management cited the dress code and denied her admission.
On UCC, calls it Hindu personal law by another name
Asaduddin Owaisi also targeted the Uniform Civil Code moves in Assam and Uttarakhand, arguing that what is being presented as a UCC is, in substance, drawn from Hindu personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu law on divorce, and the Hindu Succession Act, and questioned why Muslims should be compelled to follow them. He said such efforts would fail, as Muslims who hold on to their faith would continue to follow the Quran and Sunnah. He urged the gathering to hold firmly to their religion while working for the country, saying Muslims could help protect India and make it a superpower while remaining faithful to Islam.
On Vande Mataram, questions Bharat Mata politics
Asaduddin Owaisi invoked Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi to argue that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram were meant to be sung, asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi considered himself wiser than the three leaders. “This country belongs to everyone. Some worship Bharat, while others wish to be buried in its soil, but all of us love India. Do not ask me to treat the nation as God, because I worship only the Creator of the heavens and the earth. I will continue to proclaim ‘La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah,’ whether you imprison me, shoot me, or try to silence me,” he said.
He said such laws insulted the vision of the country’s founding leaders and the Constitution, which he noted begins with “We, the People of India” and not “Bharat Mata.” He alleged that instead of creating jobs for the country’s unemployed youth, the government was distracting people with issues such as the Uniform Civil Code, vigilante politics and religious polarisation. “Let people eat according to their beliefs, let people practice their religion freely, and do not interfere with how others live,” Owaisi said, adding that he believed the “injustice” would end and appealing to the youth to stand for justice and constitutional values.
Renews attack on RSS, BJP over Manusmriti
He accused the RSS and BJP of having historically favoured the Manusmriti over the Constitution, questioning the RSS’s commitment to the document drafted by Dr BR Ambedkar.
“I am asking those associated with the RSS about Manusmriti. Is it not true that on November 26, 1949, we adopted the Constitution? Yet, four days later, on November 30, a mouthpiece of the RSS published a complaint against it, stating that it wasn’t a constitution at all and that it should have been the Manusmriti. They had issues with the Constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Asaduddin Owaisi said.
He also drew a contrast between Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar’s conduct in the Andaman Cellular Jail and that of Muslim freedom fighters. “Savarkar was in support of Manusmriti. While he was in Andaman jail, he was writing letters to the British, saying, ‘I am with you, please release me.’ But what were we doing? Allama Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi was also in jail; he endured hardships but never wrote a ‘love letter’ to the British. Instead, he issued a fatwa for Jihad against them. Even today, his grave stands in Andaman as a testament,” Owaisi said, adding that Hyderabad’s Maulvi Alauddin, imam of Mecca Masjid, was the first prisoner sent to the Andaman Islands.
Owaisi further claimed the RSS made no sacrifices during India’s freedom struggle, pointing instead to figures such as Turrebaz Khan, and said those making claims about patriotism should not question the loyalty of Indian Muslims.
Owaisi’s remarks on the Manusmriti come against the backdrop of a political row between the BJP and Congress, after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi cited and condemned a passage from the text at an event in Pune, prompting the BJP to accuse him of undermining India’s cultural heritage.
