Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Higher Education Minister Roji M John on Monday hit out at remarks seeking to confine women to their homes, ending a Facebook post with the tagline "SMASH THE PATRIARCHY".
Though he did not name anyone, Roji's post came a day after Islamic scholar Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, speaking at an Islamic conference in Kochi, said bringing women onto public platforms would lead to "great destruction" and that Islam prescribed purdah for women to prevent this.
"It is precisely recognising that bringing women onto public platforms in this manner causes great destruction that Islam mandated purdah for women. The Holy Quran states that women should live confined within their homes and must not make public appearances," Kanthapuram had said.
Roji's Facebook post also came two days after his party leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the 'Manusmriti mindset' and urged girl students to 'smash patriarchy', while targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that he was shocked to hear girls using abusive language during a recent protest at Jantar Mantar.
Responding to the remarks without naming the Islamic scholar, Roji said women did not move from homes to public life overnight, but reached the mainstream after centuries of struggles and sacrifices.
"It is unfortunate that the regressive idea of sending women back from the stage to the kitchen is being repeated even in the 21st century," he said.
Recalling the struggles for women's rights in Kerala, the minister said the state had a long history of fighting against social restrictions imposed on women.
"This is the land where a powerful struggle was waged for the right to cover the upper body," he said.
He also recalled Arya Pallam, who spoke from the stage of the Guruvayur Satyagraha and declared that she would undertake a hunger strike after K Kelappan.
Roji also referred to Dakshayani Velayudhan, who faced caste discrimination but continued her struggle and went on to become a member of the Constituent Assembly, and freedom fighter Accamma Cherian, who famously said, "I am the leader, shoot me first."
"Countless people, both those whose names are recorded in history and those whose names are not, cleared the revolutionary path of renaissance through which women won their rights and secured a place in the public sphere," he said.
Looking beyond Keralam, the minister said the work of women such as Savitribai Phule had opened the doors of education for millions of girls.
"It was the light of education lit by people like Savitribai Phule that gave courage to millions of girls to dream," he said.
He also pointed to Indian and international women who had made their mark in different fields, from former prime minister Indira Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
"We are living in an era of Sunita Williams, who found a place not only on earth but also in space," Roji said.
He said women, including Malayali women, were making their mark in local self-government, the civil services, research, science and technology.
Roji also cited women politicians such as Adv Shanimol Usman, who he said was serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, and K A Thulasi Teacher, whom he described as Kerala's first Dalit woman minister, besides Adv Bindu Krishna.
"India, the democratic sovereign republic, is being led by a woman, Droupadi Murmu," he said.
The minister said the country was founded on constitutional equality and that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution applied equally to women, irrespective of gender, caste or religion.
"No one has the licence to cancel that constitutional equality," he said.
"The wheel of history moves forward. Time will recognise those who try to turn it backwards," Roji said.
He ended the post with the tagline: "SMASH THE PATRIARCHY." Meanwhile, responding to a query on the scholar's remarks in Kannur, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said, "I do not agree with opposing women's participation in the public sphere." Keralam Health Minister K Muraleedharan said there had been an advancement in the position of women in society and that no one should fail to recognise it, whoever they may be.
"Didn't we see it just now?" he asked, referring to the victory of a Muslim woman as an IUML candidate from the Perambra Assembly constituency under the party's ladder symbol.
"That is a change brought about by the times. Everyone should recognise and understand that change," he said.
However, LSGD Minister and IUML leader K M Shaji declined to comment on the scholar's remarks.
