As the hijab row escalated in Karnataka, on Tuesday, videos of a Hijabi student being heckled by a group of saffron-clad students chanting slogans of “Jai Shree Ram” surfaced on social media.
In the video, as the girl who is a student of P. E. S. Engineering college, parks her vehicle and proceeds towards the college, a group of students wearing saffron scarves walk towards her shouting slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” however they were taken aback when the girl countered their attack chanting “Allahu Akbar”.
Even as the High Court started hearing the matter, the Hijab row turned violent in the state on Tuesday as incidents of stone-pelting and lathi-charge were reported in the state at Pre-University Colleges. According to sources, many students were injured in the stone-pelting.
The Karnataka Police resorted to lathi-charge as incidents of stone-pelting were reported during the students’ protest.
Dalit students from the IDGS government college in Chikmagalur wore blue scarves, on Monday, in solidarity with the girls who had been denied entry into the college for wearing headscarves, as a part of their religious obligation.
Protests have erupted in various districts and parts of Karnataka including Hassan, Shahpur in Yadadri, Belgavi, Haveri, Bhadravati in Shivamogga, Mandya, Raichur, Vijayanagar, and Chamarajpet and Hoskote in Bangalore, against the state government’s hijab diktat.
The Hijab Row
Muslim girls of colleges in northern Karnataka were asked to shun their hijab after a group of male students arrived at the colleges, adorning saffron scarves, in a protest against girls being allowed to wear headscarves on the college premises.
Muslim girls of colleges in Karnataka were asked to shun their Hijab after a group of male students arrived at the college, adorning Saffron scarves, in a protest against Muslim girls being allowed to wear headscarves on the college premises.
Although the rule book of a college suggested that girls are allowed to wear Hijabs on the premises of the institution, the management recently prohibited the girls from covering their heads, following the diktat of the state government.
The controversy that has been raging since early January, forced the state to call for a committee to look into the matter and take a call on pre-university college uniforms across the state.
The state had directed students, of all colleges, to shun the Hijab until the report of the high-level committee formed in this regard is submitted.
The ‘saffron fever’ has now spread to a large number of districts in Karnataka, including Hassan, Chickmanglur and Belagavi. Apart from Kundapura, Hindu students of PU colleges in Udupi’s Bhandarkar and Byandoor adorned saffron in protest against girls adorning Hijab.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Syeda Faiza Kirmani | 
