MSJ on hijab ban
SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
WEIGHING in on the controversy surrounding On the Job Training (OJT) teacher Nafisah Nakhid, leader of the Movement of Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah says Nakhid should never been refused entry to Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College because she was wearing a hijab.
Last Monday the school’s principal told Nakhid, 23, a mechanical engineering graduate, she would not be allowed to teach at the school while wearing her hijab. Secretary general of the Maha Sabha Sat Maharaj said the principal banned her under the school’s dress code.
At a press conference at the MSJ’s headquarters in St Joseph Village, San Fernando, Abdulah said the school and the Maha Sabha were wrong.
“The MSJ believes in social justice, and one component of that is that on principle there should be no discrimination against people on the basis of race, religion, age, gender, geography, etc,” Abdulah said.
“In our view, it was wrong for Ms Nakhid to be refused entry and to not be allowed to teach, whether an as OJT or otherwise – it does not matter what her designation was, it was wrong for her to be refused entry to the Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, and the Maha Sabha was wrong, no question about that.”
Education Minister Anthony Garcia labelled the ban a direct attack on a person’s religious rights and Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar urged the SDMS to reconsider, saying Nakhid should be commended for being god-fearing.
But Persad-Bissessar’s defence of Nakhid spurred another controversy, as Maharaj has since declared that Hindus will no longer support the UNC. He also uninvited Persad-Bissessar from the Maha Sabha’s annual Indian Arrival Day celebrations at the Parvati Girls’ Hindu School in Debe on Wednesday.This, Abdulah said, is just another indication of the level of tribal politics in TT.
“As to the other statements, his conflict with Persad-Bissessar, that is an indication of something we have known all along: that party politics when it comes to the UNC and the PNM are based upon factors such as race and religion and geography, and that is how those parties have been able to win elections and win seats in Parliament.”
Abdulah said unlike the MSJ, the other political parties do not worry about policies or ideology. “The discourse about politics is not, for them, about ideology or philosophy or ideas, policies for the development of the country, and that is why we say that both the PNM and the UNC really are part of the country’s problem, they are flip sides of the same coin.”
He said this is why although leadership has changed hands from one party to another over the years, there has been no fundamental change. Abdulah also offered congratulations to Barbados’ new Prime Minister Mia Mottley, saying her victory on May 24 had offered a beacon of hope for all Caribbean people.