Why is France hounding women for wearing burkinis?

The French police confronted a woman on Nice beach and made her remove some of her clothing because she was wearing a "burkini" - an outfit 15 towns in France have banned. Several French citizens have been slapped with a fine for donning the outfit. What calls for the Talibanesque intervention in the birthplace of democracy? A mere piece of clothing? Let's weigh in.  

The burkini is a fusion of the burQa and the bikini. It is designed for Muslims who believe that Islam requires women to conceal everything except the face, hands and feet from all men who are not their husbands or unmarriageable kin.

The official line of the French tribunal that banned burkinis said the attire was "liable to offend the religious convictions or (religious) non-convictions of other users of the beach" and "be felt as a defiance or a provocation exacerbating tensions felt by" the community. It also said that the ban was "necessary, appropriate and proportionate" to prevent public disorder after a succession of jihadists attacks in France.

Amid fears of a growing wave of Islamophobia in Europe, it would seem that the French diktat on burkinis only gives a fillip to the racist attacks and bigotry faced by Muslims. But what legitimises the ban against criticism, making millions of observant Muslims vulnerable to prejudice?

In France, any overt display of one's religion is banned as it could offend other religions. France prides itself in the integration of all religions and races, so not allowing citizens to display their affiliations, in a very warped way, is considered secular.

Also read: Will the next Islamic terror attack push France to the brink of civil war?

But France, the upholder of the freedom of conscience above all, finds itself in a state of paranoia ever since the Paris attacks and a layperson would argue that the ban on burkinis is actually racial profiling, and anything but secular.

Academicians have argued that one of core French values, laïcité or French secularism, is a search for a modern state, which places "modernity" itself as a religion above anything else, and makes laws to enforce it.

When used to enact bigoted bans, for millions of observant followers of various faiths, isn't the laïcité more a caveat than an empowering virtue? 

A closer look at the rise of the Front National, a far-Right nationalist party in France, and the ascent of the Right world over makes innocuous outfits like burkinis a dangerous ploy to incite communal passions and affect popular opinion. The ban on the burkini could also just be an attempt to appease the French public.

In line with the ludicrous burkini ban, should we now expect France to ban skullcaps, kippahs, or even veils at a Christian weddings because they could hurt religious sentiments?

Whenever a government enforces an idea upon its citizens, be it modernity, like in France, or forcing women to wear the burqa as Saudi Arabia does, it throttles basic freedoms.

After parts of Syria were liberated from ISIS control, many men cut their beards off and women burned their burqas in sheer jubilation, as a symbol of freedom, as a symbol of how they had taken back the idea of choice, and in the end, isn't choice the most secular principal of all? Why is the French government then hell-bent on taking this choice away?