The Indian state of Karnataka banned hijab from public schools, exposing the hollow mantra of “secular India.” Sania Saifi, a theater and performance artist, was compelled to recollect her traumata on a Delhi school campus, where wearing a headscarf was not about exercising choice.
“On my first day of school, the school administration ordered me not to wear a headscarf in class,” Saifi said. “The second day, two teachers were already stationed outside my class to keep an eye on me, and they wouldn’t allow me into the classroom until I took off my hijab.”
