Following the Easter attack, the Sri Lanka government has issued an order banning the burqa and any other garment that covers the face in Sri Lanka. “Wearing garments that cover the face completely will be banned from tomorrow, to ensure public safety,” the presidential decree reads.
The Shiv Sena, in a controversial editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna, on Wednesday demanded a ban on the use of burqa in public places as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being considered by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives.
It said that the ban – something similar which the party has proposed in the past — “has already come in Ravana’s (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Ram’s Ayodhya — this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi.”
The Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana” said, “This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security.”
It further added, “no Mahatma Phules or Shahu Maharaj” was born among the Muslims nor were allowed to become, which has worked to the advantage of whimsical elements like Shahabuddin, Azam Khan, Owaisi brothers, and Abu Asim Azmi. If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and “Modi will have to do it now”.
The Sena acclaimed, “This work will require as much daring as a ‘surgical strike.’ The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena.”
The Sena further added, “When any voice is raised against these practices, immediately there are cries of ‘Islam is in danger’, and it seems religion takes precedence over nationalism among Muslims. Muslim women have been sporting burqas/veils under the wrong impression that it is a Quranic tenet.”
It pointed out that there have been bans on both burqas for women and beards for men even in Muslim countries like Turkey in the past, especially when Kamal Pasha suspected that these were being misused for carrying out anti-national activities, “proving (burqa-beard) are basically not linked with Islam”.
The editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna read, “When New Zealand, Australia, France, Sri Lanka, and other countries have banned the burqa for national security reasons, then why not in India? We want to ask – when will the Prime Minister ban the burqa in India?”
However, Union Minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale opposed Shiv Sena’s demand for a burqa ban, stating that the traditions of any community cannot be banned.
Notably, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut defended the party’s demand and clarified that they were not targeting any particular community. Raut said, “It is not a religious issue, it is an issue of national security. If our Muslim brothers think that a burqa ban is against Islam, then I disagree.”
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