Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) strongly condemns the Iranian State’s obscurantist, authoritarian laws and their murderous enforcement, as also the denial of the citizens’ right to protest. In this third decade of the 21st century it’s inhuman and barbaric to kill a fellow human being merely for not covering her head.
At the same time, we question the hypocrisy of India’s Muslim clergy in not supporting the Iranian women’s right to choose, an argument it puts forward in the context of the ongoing hijab controversy in India.
The world is witnessing a horrendous turn of events in Iran where State atrocity has caused the custodial murder of a 22-years-old young woman, #MahasaAmini , just for taking off her head cover. No less shocking is the fact that those protesting the murder by peacefully defying the mandatory head covering are being subjected to violence, humiliation and arrests on the streets by the police.
The news and real time videos coming from Tehran and other parts of Iran are heart wrenching. However the heart-warming aspect of these protests is the active support of young Iranian men who are opposing both archaic traditional practices and State atrocities.
In this epochal moment, the Indian clergy and conservative Muslims in general that support mandatory head covering for Muslim women, citing the principle of right to choose attire, must be questioned whether they support Iranian women’s ‘right to choose or refuse head coverings’?
It will be hypocritical of all those who tom-tom this liberal democratic argument that ‘forced removal of burqa, naqab, hijab is against the basic human rights of a woman’, but who do not come forward in support of Iranian women of different faiths who are forced to cover their heads in consonance with Islamic Shariah practices of Iran. It is to be noted here that in Iran the rule of mandatory head covering is applicable to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
IMSD calls upon the civil society in India to challenge the hypocrisy of those religious power elite who choose the liberal principles of Indian constitution as per their fundamentalist and misogynistic conveniences while they remain tight lipped when these principles are flouted against the progressive aspirations of the citizens in Islamic States.
Signatories:
- Akbar Shaikh, Indian Muslims Secular Youth Movement, Solapur
- Amir Rizvi, IMSD, Designer, Mumbai
- Anjum Javed, Delhi
- Anjum Rajabali, IMSD, Film writer, Mumbai.
- Ali Bhojani, IMSD, Mumbai
- Alok Sheel, retired IAS, Delhi
- (Dr) Anthony P. J.
- (Dr.) Anuradha Chenoi, Delhi
- Anurag Chaturvedi, senior journalist, Mumbai
- Arif Kapadia, IMSD, Business, Mumbra
- Arshad Alam, IMSD, Writer, Columnist, Delhi
- Asha Puri, Delhi
- Ashhar Khan, Jaunpur
- Asiya Shervani, Hyderabad
- Askari Zaidi, IMSD, Senior Journalist, Activist, Mumbai
- Azeez Pasha, Hyderabad
- Deepak Sanon, retired IAS
- Dipak Malik, Varanasi
- Dipak Roy, Delhi
- Feroz Abbas Khan, IMSD, Theatre & Films Director, Mumbai
- Feroze Mithiborwala, Co-convener, IMSD, Mumbai
- (Dr) G. G. Parikh, Freedom fighter, Mumbai
- Ghulam Mohiuddin, USA
- Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, Writer, Teacher, Researcher in Culture, Media & Islamic Studies
- (Prof.) Girija Gupte, Feminist, Mumbai
- Guddi S. L. , Activist, Mumbai
- Harsh Kapoor, Independent researcher, Editor, France
- Irfan Engineer, IMSD, CSSS, Mumbai
- (Dr.) Jamsheed Rizwani, France
- Jasjit Randhawa
- Javed Akhtar, IMSD, Poet, Film Writer, former MP, Mumbai
- Javed Anand, Convener, IMSD, Mumbai
- Jyoti Badekar, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Panvel
- Kanhaiya Lal Sharma
- Kasim Sait, IMSD, Businessman, activist, Chennai
- Kishor Jagtap, Ganai Cultural Movement, Kalyan
- Kusum Verma, Varanasi
- Madhu Prasad, IMSD, retired professor, activist Delhi
- Mahabub Shaikh, Indian Muslims Secular Youth Movement, Bengaluru
- Mallika Sarabhai, activist, Indian classical dancer, actress, Ahmedabad
- Mandita Mitra, Delhi
- Medha Patkar, NAPM Convener, Mumbai
- Mohammed Imran, USA, Delhi
- Mridula Mukherjee, Delhi
- Muniza Khan, IMSD, Social Activist, Varanasi
- Nandita Sehgal, retired IAS
- Naseeruddin Shah, Actor, Mumbai
- ND Jayaprakash
- Neelima Sharma, Theatre, Delhi
- Nihar Bhattacharya, Varanasi
- Nirmala George, Delhi
- Persis Ginwala, Ahmedabad
- Pratibha Shinde, Lok Sangarsh Morcha, Jalgaon
- (Dr) Ram Puniyani, Author, activist, Mumbai
- (Dr.) Qaiser Shameem, Delhi
- Renu, Delhi
- Ritambhara Shastri, Delhi
- Rooprekha Verma, activist, former vice-chancellor Lucknow University.
- Sabah Khan, IMSD, Parcham, Mumbai/Mumbra
- Sadique Basha, IMSD, Activist, Mira Road, Thane
- Saif Mahmood, IMSD, Lawyer, Supreme Court, Delhi
- Sandip Pandey, Political activist, Lucknow
- Sarita Sabiruddin, USA
- (Dr.) Satish Mishra, Delhi
- Satya Narayan Sahu
- Satyen K Bordoloi, IMSD, Copywriter, editor, Mumbai
- Shabana Azmi, Actor, former MP, activist, Mumbai
- Shabana Dean, Naturopath, Mumbai
- Shafat Khan, IMSD, Writer, Mumbai
- (Dr) Shanawaz Alam, IMSD, Asst Professor, Sultanpur
- Shalini Dhawan, Designer, Mumbai
- Shama Bano, Varanasi
- Shama Zaidi, IMSD, Documentary Film Maker, Mumbai
- Shamsul Islam, Author, Delhi
- Sheeba Aslam Fehmi, IMSD, feminist writer, research scholar and a senior journalist, Delhi
- Shikha Sen, Delhi
- Smita Salunkhe, Vidyarthi Bharti, Kalyan
- Subhashini Ali, CPI(M), AIDWA, Kanpur
- Sujata Bhattacharya, Varanasi
- Sultan Shahin, Editor-in-chief, New Age Islam, Delhi
- (Dr.) Sunilam, former ex-MLA, activist, Indore
- Sunita Vedantam, Delhi
- Taizoon Khorakiwala, IMSD, Businessman, philanthropist, Mumbai
- Teesta Setalvad, IMSD, CJP, Mumbai
- Tushar Gandhi, Author, activist, Mumbai
- Utpala, Delhi
- Vasanthi Raman, Retired professor, Delhi
- Vibha Wahi, Varanasi
- Vibhuti Narain Rai, IMSD, retired IPS, writer, commentator, Noida
- K. Singh, Varanasi
- Vimla Chand, Sydney
- Yashodhan Paranjpe, social activist, Mumbai
- Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj Abhiyan, Delhi
- Zakia Soman, BMMA, Delhi
- Zeenat Shaukatali, IMSD, Islamic Scholar, Wisdom Foundation, Mumbai