Hijab controversy: Former actress Zaira Wasim says, ‘I, as a woman who wears hijab, resent this entire system’

‘Dangal’ actor Zaira Wasim, on Saturday, reacted to the ongoing Hijab state of Karnataka. The ongoing unrest in the state of Karnataka over whether students should be permitted to wear hijab in educational institutions has caught the attention of many celebrities including veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar, and actor Sonam Kapoor among others. Former actor Zaira Wasim is the latest to use her social media power to react on the same. 

Taking to her Facebook handle Zaira posted a long note in which she spoke about “the inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill-informed one.” The ‘Secret Superstar’ actor’s post comes days after several women in Karnataka were heckled by protestors for wearing a hijab.

“It’s often either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn’t a choice but an obligation in Islam. Likewise, a woman who wears the hijab is fulfilling an obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself to,” the 21-year-old shared.

She added, “I, as a woman who wears the hijab with gratitude and humility, resent and resist this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment.” 

Her statement continues, “Stacking this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to decide between education and hijab or to give up either is an absolute injustice.” Zaira also slammed the critics for “attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda and then criticising them while they’re imprisoned in what you’ve constructed.” 

“There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it? On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that. Sad,” Zaira concluded her statement. 

Amid the ongoing Hijab controversy, the Karnataka government on Friday submitted before the Karnataka High Court that Hijab is not an essential religious practice of the Muslim faith and preventing it does not violate the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. 

A bench of the three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi was hearing the various petitions challenging the ban on Hijab in educational institutes in the state. Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi, appearing for the Karnataka government, said that the state has taken the stand that Hijab does not come under the essential religious practice of Islam.

(ANI)