A direct interference is being made in an educational institution in Udupi District of Karnataka to dictate what female Muslim students should, or shouldn't wear. A few girls are being forced to answer a difficult question — whether they wish to continue wearing a face veil or to proceed with their normal studies! With this 'optional' status, one wonders where have we left behind the notion of the right to education being a fundamental right in the country. The university administration's move is in absolute defiance of the commitment of the nation to educate the last child in the country. It cannot be trivialized as a specific case with certain negative externalities. The ripple, in fact, is being already felt across the state with tensions rising in various other educational institutions. The so-called liberal or 'secular' stance on this matter, asserting that Muslim women need to be emancipated from the clutches of certain religious bindings is heavily flawed in this context. While forcing women to wear hijabs or burqas is one form of repression, banning them from doing the same is just another form of heavy handedness — in the latter case, at the behest, or at least with the permission of the state. The plain and simple question is why the women or girls are not left to decide for themselves. Won't that be the best possible form of 'emancipation'? Is the administration's intrusion really that important? The seriousness of the intrusion by the university administration has to be understood in three contexts — the historical context, the global context and the context of increasing religious bigotry against minorities in India. When seen in this larger perspective, the extremely dark colors of burqa ban in Karnataka would come out. Furthermore, the Karnataka incident cannot be seen as a matter related to a particular school or university. The fact that the state government has passed a directory saying that students cannot be allowed to wear "clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order" — citing Karnataka State Education Act, 1983. Two things are worth reading from this statement. First, the state is directly involved in the matter which is clearly associated with the religious choices of a particular gender belonging to a particular community — throwing the principles of secularism to the winds. Secondly, this is just another bizarre invocation of 'public order' to put a curb on day-to-day lives of people. Globally, several European countries have placed a ban on face veil over the past couple of decades to a varying extent. Notable among these countries are France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the UK etc. The generally cited reasons behind these bans vary across countries but, at the same time, they are also overlapping with each other — leading to a broader thinking paradigm which at least holds some basic elements of commonality across all cases. France began debating the ban on religious symbols like Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in public spaces way back in 2004 and eventually placed the ban in 2011. Belgium also imposed a similar ban the same year. The French ban was further upheld by the European court of human rights in 2014. Apart from the intent to ban religious symbols in public places, the security issue has been another argument which is widely floated — rather unnecessarily — in this regard. It is common sense that fringe elements can hide explosives in saree the same way they can do in burqa or hijab. It won't be wrong to say that these arguments are largely fed through misinformation, and rather advertently. One of our neighboring countries, Sri Lanka, has also imposed a ban on face veils for similar reasons. Both of these reasons are highly misplaced — more so in the Indian context. In the very first place, it has to be highlighted that despite a decade (years in some cases) of imposition of ban on hijab or burqa, the countries mentioned above continue to reel under controversy and turmoil. India should learn from these experiences that such incidents would simply lead us to nowhere for the best, and to chaos and communal tensions for the worst. Secondly, when it comes to banning religious symbols in schools or public places, the Western countries have tried to project their secular outlook. This, however, doesn't hold good for India. India's secularism is markedly different from that of many other countries mentioned above. India's secularism contains the spirit of assimilation of religious diversity rather than segregation or indifference towards one another. We have all grown up appreciating the beauty of differences in our food and clothing cultures. Punjabi turban has been as much a subject of fascination to us as the north Indian sarees or kurta pyjamas. It is a time-tested fact that these beautiful differences have only brought us closer without affecting our secular outlook negatively. It is true that uniformity in schools provides a level playing field for the students coming from different socio-economic backgrounds. But weaponization of the same uniformity to marginalize a selected set of students defies the very essence of parity and inclusiveness that school uniforms are meant to establish. Standing true to the texture of India, uniformity in our schools and colleges should be broad enough to incorporate the differences. If need be, set norms and rules can also be questioned for the greater good of the nation. Schools and colleges in India must embrace the vast multitude of differences that India is composed of; and cultivate the same among children because that's what education is all about — understanding and accepting the society we are living in, covering all its hues. With great sorrow, it has to be said that the schools and universities in question are doing great disservice to the nation by directly or indirectly promoting a sense of seclusion and mutual enmity among students. Dangerous signs have already started to unfold with students from one religious community resorting to uncalled-for moves to resist the clothing of another set of students. It is disgraceful — alarming at the same time — that the Karnataka government, rather than taking serious note of the issue, is raising frivolous issues around public order. These negative developments go against the cultural ethos of our nation, undermine fundamental rights and blacken the future of India. The issue demands immediate condemnation from the topmost leaders of India.