God is for everyone. God is of everyone. That
is the ideal position but something that has been a deep rooted ‘glass ceiling’
phenomenon universally, in almost every religion with different hues, in every
society, in every country, including India.
We worship women. In Hinduism, Goddess
Shakti is revered like the supreme deity. And it doesn’t end here. I am sure
every religion has its own female deities. Yet we deny women the basic right –
the right to equality in the places of worship.
And that’s why the court decisions like the
one on the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai yesterday or the Shani Shingnapur temple
in Ahmadnagar in April this year allowing women’s entry in the inner sanctum,
so far barred for women, are important – away from the debates of such demands being
being a mere publicity stunt – like we saw in Trupti Desai led movement that
resulted in Shani Shingnapur verdict – or away from the political lethargy we
see when the political class refuses to budge from its position keeping
equations of the votebank politics in mind and it ultimately comes to the
courts, the top custodian of our Constitution.
Court verdicts like these pull our
attention to this very important discrimination prevailing in our society that
we have so subtly legitimized – again in the name of religion – and have
efficiently co-opted women to perpetuate such practices – out of fear psychosis
– or emotional bondage – or cultural blackmail. You will find a major cross
section of women advocating the women entry ban, be it Shani Shingnapur or Haji
Ali. When women activists were planning to storm the Shani Shingnapur temple,
women of the Shingnapur village and the nearby villages were preparing to stop
them and a multi-layered security around the sanctum sanctorum.
Our scriptures say God is for everyone.
They say He knows what is in our conscious and He comes to everyone. They say
our faith is as important for God as God is for us. The Bombay High Court while
delivering the order observed, “It cannot be said that the said prohibition `is
an essential and integral part of Islam' and fundamental to follow the
religious belief; and if taking away that part of the practice, would result in
a fundamental change in the character of that religion or its belief.” The High
Court further summed up the spirit in its verdict, “There is nothing in any of
the verses which shows, that Islam does not permit entry of women at all, into
a Dargah/Mosque and that their entry was sinful in Islam.” (From the BombayHigh Court’s verdict)
When we worship our deities of both genders
with equal faith and devotion, why do we discriminate between their devotees
based on their genders? Why men fear women presence in innermost religious
circles? That brings us to this point that religion is one of the most
primitive tools to maintain male domination/hegemony in the society.
The court’s verdict on Shani Shingnapur was
a slap in the face of orthodox Hinduism the same way as the yesterday’s is on
Muslim fundamentalists, especially when women were allowed entry in Haji Ali’s
inner sanctum till 2011-12. Haji Ali or Shani Shingnapur, they say the practice
to deny women their basic rights in the religious places is not restricted to
any particular religion. In fact, women have been historically denied their
religious rights – and the problem is acute in religions like Islam or Hinduism
or in different tribal sects. There are many taboos humiliating and restricting
women rights in our society and this is one of them – a practice that has been
made socially acceptable even if it is fundamentally wrong.
©SantoshChaubey
