The BJP must realize that the average Muslim girl lives in an environment of fear and insecurity. Rape of Muslim women has been common in riots. Communal violence and prejudices have driven large number of Muslims to live in ghettos, where patriarchy and orthodoxy rule.Men, deriving power from the responsibility to protect the women of their families, force them to wear a burqa and hijab when going out so as to not attract attention towards themselves. They are not very keen to give girls higher education, for that would mean going far from the ghetto and more risks to their security, leaving aside the risk of their ‘corruption’ with ‘modern, western’ education.The Muslim ghettos must melt. Muslims must be encouraged to live in mixed neighbourhoods. This can happen only when political parties and governments do not allow communal violence and discrimination against Muslims to take place in the future.If that happens, Muslim girls will feel more secure, and more and more of them will come to schools and colleges. Even their parents would have no ground to deny them education. Even if they want their girls to go to their classes in hijab, so be it. At least the girls will be getting an education. That will open new doors for them. That will take them to different worlds.Will the BJP ensure there is no violence and discrimination against Muslims? Will it give full attention to the education of Muslim girls and leave the future of hijab to the future? Or does it want people to believe that its responsibility for Muslim women’s empowerment ended with the triple talaq law? Are we asking too much of the Great Saviour of Muslim women? (Arun Sinha is an independent journalist and author. Views are personal.)(This article was first published in National Herald on Sunday.)
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