A widely circulated video of a woman resisting bigotry has brought to the fore the growing concerns of religious hatred in India.

The footage showed a young woman in a headscarf being harassed by a mob of men with saffron shawls – a colour associated with the BJP and nationalism.

Surrounding the woman – named as Muskan Khan – the mob yelled ‘Jai Sri Ram’ (hail Lord Ram) repeatedly. In response, Khan shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great) as she was led away by college staff, in a show of defiance that has earned her much praise.

According to the 2011 census there were more than 172 million Muslims living in India, the largest minority group in the country. This figure is now estimated to be over 200 million.

Schools in the southern Indian state of Karnataka which is governed by the right wing party has shut for three days from Wednesday following violent clashes between protesting Muslims and mobs.

Infamously, the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India was destroyed in December 1992 by a nationalist mob which led to riots and communal tension all over India resulting in the deaths of around 2000 people.

The Hindu nationalist, anti-Islamic Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was said to be behind the destruction of the mosque. The party came into power in 2014 under the leadership of Narendra Modi – touted by some as the first Hindutva leader in a thousand years.

BJP is one of two major political parties in India, along with the Indian National Congress. It has been the ruling political party of the Republic of India since 2014.

The BJP’s policy has historically reflected hard-line Hindu nationalist positions. As of 2020, it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament and state legislatures.

The political party has made world headlines after a BJP-run high school’s decision last month to restrict Muslim students from wearing the headscarf in class.

A group of Muslim girls began a sit-in protest at their college in the city of Udupi in January after their principal refused to let them attend lessons while wearing the Hijab. The students were told to either remove their headscarves or stop attending classes.

India’s ruling Hindu nationalist BJP is accused of implementing a string of Islamophobic policies and stoking violence against India’s Muslim and Christian minorities.

With Muslims constituting just 14 percent of Karnataka’s population, many female Muslims students say they had already decided to stay home out of fears of being harassed and attacked by large Hindu mobs.

So what threat does the Hijab pose?

Islam teaches many moral and practical lessons in the day-to-day life of believers including a dress code for both males and females. A part of the dress code encouraged for women is the Hijab or Niqab.

It is a symbol of faith just like nuns dress modestly out of devotion to God. Is a piece of cloth so dangerous that enraged mobs are harassing and intimidating powerless, law-abiding citizens due to it?

It is their religious and constitutional right –enshrined in India’s secular constitution- to dress in a modest way, without governmental pressure or interference. Just like it is the right of Sikh men to wear a turban or a Christian to use the symbol of the crucifix.

The present crises has the potential to escalate. Only the government can control their supporters and activists.