Srinagar: Stating that “this is Hindustan”, a Delhi based Hindi news portal has denied a job of an anchor to a journalism student of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for wearing a hijab.
Surprisingly, the student identified as Gazala Ahmad was first selected for the same and when she refused the interviewer to work without hijab, she said, she was denied the job.
On Wednesday, while sharing a series of tweets, Ghazala said that a few days ago, after being selected for the job, the recruiter categorically denied the saying that anchors in their organisation cannot wear the hijab.
“I am a journalism student and supposed to work in media as an employee. I applied for a job few days back. It was a local Hindi news portal based in Delhi and they were offering me a job of anchor,” Ghazal wrote on twitter.
“They interviewed me, I got selected and salary was discussed. It was a telephonic interview so I told them that I observe hijab and will continue to do that during my job. To which the recruiter went silent and told me he can’t proceed my application further, (sic),” she mentioned.
“Despite telling him that I have worked for @NewIndianXpress and @ndtv and @TCNLive (none of them asked me to remove my hijab) he was adamant on his demand that either I have to remove my hijab or I won’t get a job. Also he said this is ‘Hindustan’ (sic)”
“and no media outlets (broadcast) have employed anyone wearing hijab. I assured him that I will do my work with the best of knowledge and you won’t find any flaw in my work. But he was hesitant accepting anyone who observe hijab to work with his channel. He said, (sic)”
“I hope you understand, I can’t allow myself to do this otherwise they will shut my news outlet”. I hung the call saying you please keep your job I will definitely find something which will let me work with my identity. Thank you. And to my surprise the recruiter was a MUSLIM, (sic)”
Narrating her experiences, Ghazala who was also a part of the students’ union at AMU, retweeted the experience of another woman who says she was rejected from the job of being a school teacher because she wears a hijab.
She also raised questions about the kind of freedom of religion and secularism being witnessed in India where she was not allowed to practice her religion.
Ghazala said that she is a journalist and believes in the ethics of respect, adding that even the constitution allows the people of India to practice their religion and bars any discrimination at any workspace. However, gender and religion have always been parameters for restrictions in the media.
Follow Us On
