German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call for a ban on the burqa and niqab is disappointing. This is the first time she backed her party’s call for a partial ban, asserting there is no place for Islamic Sharia laws in a modern secular society. While her liberal image had been enhanced by her compassionate handling of last year’s refugee crisis, when thousands of Muslims fleeing the war-ravaged Middle East sought asylum in Germany, her move to the right is seen as deft politics. But her tough talk at the CDU party meet can also be interpreted as a change in rhetoric rather than a basic shift that could translate quickly into action.
Having believed in “diversity being a logical consequence of freedom”, such a rightist shift in her stand could prove infectious to the rest of Europe, might even have been a consequence of the spreading of concepts like the clash of civilisations. Any divisive or hateful idea tends to set up one person against another on the basis of his/her religion or race, and is potentially harmful to social relations. Ironically, when Germany needed workers and had a positive immigration policy, inviting people from the rest of Europe, it didn’t see religion or race as an impediment. The ban on any cultural or religious symbol can only lead to further divisions within society. This being a far from progressive measure, apart from what it can do to allay security agencies’ anxieties, it exemplifies how even well ensconced leaders can still be driven by politics.
