- When Meenaba Zala, who belongs to the Rajput community, came on stage to present a memento to Vaghani as part of his felicitation at Rantej village, the minister noticed that she had covered her entire face with her saree
- Rajput women in the village will not cover their faces in public and follow the ghunghat practice only at home from now onwards: Meenaba
NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 24
મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી ભૂપેન્દ્ર પટેલના માર્ગદર્શન હેઠળ અનેક નવીન અને પરિણામલક્ષી પહેલ દ્વારા પ્રત્યેક બાળકને ગુણવત્તાસભર શિક્ષણ સુનિશ્ચિત કરવા સંકલ્પબદ્ધ છે ગુજરાત સરકાર.#ShalaPraveshotsav2022 pic.twitter.com/8J98n5AzCR
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) June 24, 2022
In the model State of Gujarat, a woman sarpanch from a conservative community removed her ghunghat (veil) after Education Minister Jitu Vaghani urged her to shun the custom at an event in Mehsana district, an official said on Friday.
🔸રાજ્યનું શિક્ષણ વિભાગ રાજ્યના બાળકોને આંતરરાષ્ટ્રીય કક્ષાનું શિક્ષણ આપવા માટે કટિબદ્ધ છે અને તેના માટે જરૂરી તમામ પગલાં પણ ભરવામાં આવી રહ્યા છે: શિક્ષણ મંત્રી @jitu_vaghani @InfoGujarat pic.twitter.com/K11cr8q9SM
— DD News Gujarati (@DDNewsGujarati) June 24, 2022
When 35-year-old Meenaba Zala, who belongs to the Rajput community, came on stage to present a memento to Vaghani as part of his felicitation at Rantej village on Thursday, the minister noticed that she had covered her entire face with her saree.
હે શારદે મા.. હે શારદે મા…
અજ્ઞાનતા સે હમે તાર દે મા..#ShalaPraveshotsav2022 pic.twitter.com/oZGEd9L6T6— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) June 24, 2022
Vaghani then urged Meenaba to shun this tradition at least during public events. “I believe that she should not cover her face at least at public events. It is just my request and it is up to the elders to decide,” Vaghani said in a lighter vein.
"સ્વર્ણિમ ભવિષ્યનો મહોત્સવ, શાળા પ્રવેશોત્સવ"
કન્યા કેળવણી મહોત્સવ અને શાળા પ્રવેશોત્સવ કાર્યક્રમ અંતર્ગત #કોંઢ પ્રાથમિક શાળા,વાલીયા તાલુકાના #ભરૂચ જિલ્લા ખાતે સામૂહિક પ્રવેશોત્સવ કાર્યક્રમ ગુજરાત સરકારના કેબિનેટ મંત્રીશ્રી @purneshmodi ની 1/2#ShalaPraveshotsav2022 pic.twitter.com/YXh1l1IBHr— Purnesh Modi ( Modi ka Parivar) (@purneshmodi) June 24, 2022
When a person from the audience said they were Rajputs and hence, their women stay behind veils, the minister said it was not about any caste and he is not against this tradition.
“This is not about any caste. I request Meenaba to remove the head covering. I am not against this tradition. But we all need to adapt to changing times. This is only my request, and the village elders have to take a final call on this. Bring your women out of this tradition. Make them equal,” Vaghani appealed from the stage.
Convinced by Vaghani’s suggestion, a Rajput community elder Gaubha Zala in the audience gave permission to the woman sarpanch to remove her veil.
“Vaghani urged me to come out of this tradition at least when I am attending public events as a sarpanch. He even urged the community elders, sitting in audience, to come forward and shun the practice to bring equality. Without forcing anyone, Vaghani said the villagers need to decide on this,” Meenaba told PTI, a premier news agency, on Friday.
The minister was assured that Rajput women in the village will not cover their faces in public and follow the ghunghat practice only at home from now onwards, said Meenaba, who is the first woman sarpanch of Rantej.
