Mumbai: The civic body of communally sensitive Malegaon, which had earlier this month seen massive protests against the ban on the hijab in Karnataka’s educational institutions, has decided to name a new ‘Urdu Ghar’ in the town after Muskan Khan, the teenager who faced a mob heckling her for wearing a hijab at her college in Mandya, Karnataka.
The Urdu Ghar is an educational institution.
The proposal was mooted by Mayor Tahira Shaikh, who was with the Congress, but recently joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with 27 other Congress corporators.
However, Shiv Sena corporators abstained from voting on the proposal to name the Urdu Ghar after Muskan.
The general body of the Malegaon Municipal Corporation approved the proposal.
“The incident that happened in Karnataka… We didn’t do it because the girl is Muslim. Even if she were a Hindu, girls should have awareness about their rights, they should be strengthened, encouraged. We saw all this in that young girl, hence named the house Bibi Muskan Khan,” Tahira Shaikh told ThePrint.
“Women and young girls should feel empowered, that was our intention,” she added.
Women, all of them wearing hijabs, had gathered on 10 February at Kallu stadium in Pawarwadi, Malegaon, in support of the Karnataka college students who faced the hijab ban. According to media reports, around 5,000 women had gathered for the protests.
Malegaon, a textile town in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, is dominated by minorities. According to the 2011 Census, 78.95 per cent of the population is Muslim.
Civic polls are slated for May-June this year in Malegaon, along with ten other cities.
Also read: Heckled over hijab, Mandya Muslim student says no need to fear, fighting for right to education
‘Girls should not feel inferior’
The construction of the Urdu Ghar was started nearly five years ago, Shaikh said, on land belonging to the civic body, after the state government accepted the proposal. It is ready, but not yet functional.
“This is an educational house and Muskan is a college girl, so girls from the next generation, when they study in this house, will feel empowered and confident. They will not be scared, and will feel strong enough to protect themselves,” Shaikh said.
The Urdu Ghar has a cultural hall and a library, and classes for NEET and other competitive exams would also be conducted, said Shaikh.
“Our girls should not feel inferior and should feel they are equal to men, this is our intention,” she said.
Shiv Sena abstains
After the Congress corporators from Malegaon joined the NCP, it now holds power in the municipal corporation, with the Shiv Sena as its coalition partner.
But, at the voting in the general body of the corporation over the proposal — which was presented after consulting the state government — to name the Urdu Ghar after Muskan Khan, all the 13 Sena corporators abstained from voting.
Deputy Mayor and Shiv Sena councillor Nilesh Aher told ThePrint that since the hijab matter is sub judice, their corporators did not vote.
“The matter currently is sub judice and our country runs by the Constitution. Hence, we didn’t interfere. And no party should interfere in religious matters that are sub judice,” he said.
While Aher said the Sena neither opposed nor supported the move to name the Urdu Ghar after Muskan Khan, it wanted to name it after Fatima Shaikh — the 19th century educator and social reformer regarded as the first Muslim woman teacher.
On 9 February, CM and party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son and Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray had commented on the hijab controversy in Karnataka on Twitter, saying prescribed uniforms in schools/colleges should be followed and such institutions should only focus on education.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
Also read: Pro-hijab protest in Malegaon: 4 organisers booked for violating prohibitory orders