On a piece of cloth called hijab, Hindutva has chosen to project its fury against Indian Muslims. This fury has been in the making ever since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was established in 1925—and has scaled a new peak over the last seven years. From targeting Muslims for consuming beef to disallowing them from praying in public places, the Hindutva brigade has now brought the hijab into its crosshairs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to articulate his sense of the hijab. Yet, judging from the past, he is likely to echo colonial rulers who portrayed their rule as a civilising mission. Like them, Modi trumpeted his decision to ban and criminalise triple talaq as a historic measure to liberate the suffering Muslim women. Late last year, on the day his government declared its intent to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years, he sniggered, “Everyone can see who has a problem with it.”