Amid hijab row in Kerala, church pushback, minister climbdown and a CPM balancing act

Sivankutty’s directive on Tuesday came hours after the Congress leadership in Ernakulam, led by MP Hibi Eden, met the girl’s father, who told reporters that his daughter would follow the school’s dress code. “My daughter will continue to study at the same school following the uniform. I don’t want to see the issue being exploited by certain quarters,” he said.

On Wednesday, in an ostensible departure from his earlier stand, Sivankutty told the media, “I have come to know that the school authorities and the parents of the girl have reached a settlement. If there is a consensus on the issue, let it be over in that way. We will not allow communal polarisation. Certain quarters wanted to foment trouble. The girl’s father is now ready to send her to school without a headscarf. Let the issue be over there.”

School principal Heleena Alby said, “We have already moved the High Court on the matter. We will ensure that all students follow the school uniform. The school has over 100 Muslim students, and only one has raised the demand that she be allowed to wear hijab.”

Pushback from church

Sivankutty is learnt to have changed his stand after the Catholic church came out against him. The media commission of the Syro-Malabar Church, in an official release, had said, “By rekindling the issue, the minister has allowed the communal elements to step in. The minister’s statement is meant to help only the communal forces which have been creating trouble in Christian educational institutions in the state.”

The Catholic church’s mouthpiece, Deepika Daily, wrote an editorial against him on Wednesday, which read, “The responsibility is to prevent the infiltration of religious fundamentalism under the guise of demand for the right to wear hijab at the school. The situation that we should remain silent under duress from certain organisations is a fallout of the political silence against fundamentalism.”

The minister’s climbdown appears to be a bid to wriggle out of the issue without antagonising the Christian vote bank ahead of the local body elections in Kerala.

Last week, he had similarly backtracked on education matters related to the Christian community in Kerala. Various Churches in Kerala have been demanding that the government ratify the appointment of teachers in government-aided schools under Christian management. When the upper caste Hindu outfit, Nair Service Society (NSS), obtained a favourable order from the Supreme Court in this regard, the Christian managements wanted to make it binding for them too.

Sivankutty, in response, warned them that there is no scope for a second liberation struggle (which in 1959 led to the fall of the Communist regime in Kerala).

However, the regional Christian party Kerala Congress (M), a CPM ally, came under political pressure from the Church over the minister’s remark. Subsequently, Sivankutty rushed to meet Archbishop Thomas Tharayil of Changanassery and promised that the matter would be addressed. Later, in a meeting convened by the Chief Minister, the education department agreed to make the SC ruling on the NSS petition binding to all Christian managements.