So, Indian media is not even talking about the #No2Hijab campaign where Iranian women and men in their support said #No2Hijab. They need support from all over the world for their courage to defy the current regime of their country. 

This week’s events in the Indian state of Karnataka have come as a huge shock for those who have witnessed counter-movements against the imposition of hijab across the world. In a series of events that have now turned violent, a section of female students at Women’s PU College in Udupi, Karnataka first started protesting against their college administration for not allowing them into classrooms with hijab.

The protests have since spread to the entire state with many colleges reporting incidents of saffron scarf-clad students protesting against those demanding hijab and incidents of stone-pelting by pro-hijab students against them. Female students of Women’s PU College in Udupi have approached the High Court to demand justice and the case has been now sent to a larger bench for hearing considering its deeper constitutional implication.

Many legal experts have already expressed their views requesting people to stay away from taking an ideological and political stand on this matter. For them, it is a matter of individual choice with reasonable space for the state to impose a uniform dress code. However, such are the times that both pro-hijab and anti-hijab sections have their own political agendas to fulfill through these protests. While on one hand, it has come as a handy tool for the Opposition to bash the ruling government in the state and the Centre over growing intolerance with the Opposition parties staging a walk-out from Parliament on Tuesday. On the other hand, it has also given a pretext to the pro-government groups to question the validity of Islamic symbols in a secular state like India.

The internal political games aside, we can’t help but compare the current pro-hijab protests in India with the anti-hijab movement that unfolded in 2017-2019 in Iran. This was the time when Iran witnessed a rerun of the famous anti-hijab march that took place in Tehran on International Women’s Day in 1979. At that time, Iranian women had turned out in massive numbers to protest against Ayatollah Khomeini’s declaration of hijab as mandatory. In 2017, an Iranian woman Vida Movahed became the inspiration for Iranian women as they took off their hijabs, tied them to a stick, and waved it to crowds during the “Girls of Enghelab” protests.

In Iran, the hijab is compulsory for women with any violation attracting a prison sentence of 2-12 months and a fine between 50,000 and 500,000 rials (adjusted for inflation). During the 2017-19 protests, multiple protesting women were arrested with many grievously injured in the police action. An Iranian activist Saba Kord Afshari was put behind bars for 24 years for promoting “corruption and prostitution” by taking off her hijab. Iranian protesters are not alone. Women in Saudi Arabia had also launched a “niqab under my foot” movement to protest against the conservative Islamic dress code mandated for them in 2018.

Activists urge Iranian women to publicly unveil to protest the crackdown

DUBAI, July 12 (Reuters) - Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils on "National Day of Hijab and Chastity" on Tuesday, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code as the country's hardline rulers to crack down on "immoral behavior".

Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators face public rebuke, fines, or arrest.

The government declared July 12 as “Hijab and Chastity Day,” which means that activities will be staged to support regulations that require women to wear the hijab. Men have been showing their solidarity as Iranian women remove their headscarves to protest the day.

As the country’s Islamic rulers press down on “immoral behavior,” Iranian rights groups have urged women to openly remove their veils on Tuesday and breach the Islamic dress code. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist, author, and women’s rights activist, who has been fighting a battle against Islamic veils for women made mandatory in Islamic nations, supported the move saying, “Iranian women will shake the clerical regime by removing their hijab and taking to the streets across Iran.”

In the crackdown, the so-called “morality police” have arrested women, with allegations that certain authorities have asked that public transportation personnel, as well as staff in government offices, and banks overlook so-called “bad-hijab” ladies. “Morality police” have been observing medical facilities and educational institutions in numerous Iranian cities to make sure women are covering their heads.

Iranian authorities recently detained several teenage girls and others for not donning hijabs at a skateboarding competition in Shiraz, a city in southern Iran.

It is worth emphasizing that women in Iran are forced to wear a hijab, which covers the head and neck and hides the hair, under Islamic law, which has been in place since the 1979 revolution. While Iranian women battle to be emancipated from the restrictions of headscarves, the hijab is used to further the Islamic agenda across the world.

No veil to remove

Some women who voluntarily wear a veil and men have joined the campaign too. "I don't have a veil to remove. But I will come to the street to support and defend the women and girls of my land. #No2Hijab" tweeted @mashmolak.

The New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said on Monday there were "serious concerns over more potential violence and detentions on July 12". Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said several people were arrested on Monday.

The #No2Hijab campaign overlapped with months of protests by teachers, retirees, workers, and government employees over unpaid wages, low pensions, and sky-rocketing food prices that have hurt the establishment's legitimacy with protesters calling for political change.

"This is like pouring fuel on the fire. People are already angry because of high inflation and rising prices. They are very frustrated," said a former Iranian government official. "Coercion has never worked."

Waves of the hijab protests have hit the clerical establishment in the past years. In 2014, rights activist Masih Alinejad started a Facebook campaign "My Stealthy Freedom", where she shared pictures of unveiled Iranian women sent to her.

It was followed by a campaign in 2017 for women to wear white headscarves on Wednesdays and the hijab protests in 2018 when women took to the streets holding their veils aloft. Dozens of women have been jailed in Iran for their activism against forced veiling, according to rights groups.

"The establishment fears a revolution by women that has already started today," Alinejad told Reuters.