The hijab-row triggered protests in Karnataka spread across the state on Tuesday, with campuses witnessing ‘conflict-like’ situations marked by stone-pelting incidents, use of force by police and the Muslim girls standing their ground for wearing the headscarves, prompting calls for peace and calm both by the government and the High Court, which is now looking into the students’ plea for their right to their hijab.
As the issue snowballed into a major controversy, the government declared three days holidays for educational institutions across the state, even as voices across the country came in for and against the hijab issue.
Protests erupted at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi after a large group of students wearing saffron stoles and headgears raised slogans in the college campus as hijab clad Muslim girls were staging a protest demanding justice.
On February 8 a girl entering college was stopped by a saffron scarf-clad mob, and being accosted by a mob chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ The authorities intervened to keep both groups of students away from each other.
Chief Minister took to Twitter appealed for peace. He tweeted, “I appeal to all the students, teachers, and management of schools and colleges as well as people of Karnataka to maintain peace and harmony. I have ordered closure of all high schools and colleges for next three days. All concerned are requested to cooperate.”
A girl at a college is being accosted by a mob chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ The men in the mob advanced and raised slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in front of the girl. The girl, in turn, chanted loudly ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’, before turning back in the face of the opposition of the mob.
Speaking with the media the girl said that people were not letting her in. She said, “I was going to the college when some people accosted me and said that I can enter the premises only after removing the burqa. They were not letting me in.”
