The Karnataka government has declared a three-day holiday for all educational institutions.
Incidents of stone pelting and use of force by police were reported on Tuesday as the hijab row in Karnataka escalated and protests by students spread to more colleges prompting the state government to declare a three-day holiday for all educational institutions.
As the Karnataka High Court and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to all students and people to maintain peace and calm, Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh claimed that according to a report the Campus Front of India (CFI) is said to have incited the Hijab row, and this will be investigated. CFI is the student wing of the Islamic outfit Popular Front of India(PFI).
Muskan, the student in hijab seen standing up to a large group of saffron scarf-wearing men at a college in Karnataka today, said she “was not worried” about facing them alone and that she would keep fighting for her right to wear the hijab.
In a confrontation caught on camera and viral on social media, Muskan is heckled by slogan-shouting young men wearing saffron scarves, but she fights back, at the Mandya pre-University college.
As the hecklers shout “Jai Shri Ram” and advance towards her, Muskan shouts back: “Allah hu Akbar!” She keeps shouting the words as the group seems to follow her to the building. Finally, officials seem to escort her away from the men.
“I was not worried. When I entered the college they were not allowing me just because I was wearing the burqa,”
“They started shouting Jai Shri Ram. So I started screaming Allah hu Akbar. The principal and lecturers supported me and protected me.”
She said while she knew about 10 per cent of the men in the group as students at the college, the rest seemed to be outsiders.
“Our priority is our education. They are ruining our education.”
Colleges across Karnataka have seen rising protests by hijab-wearing students on one hand and men wearing saffron scarves on the other.
The protests started last month at the Government Girls PU college in Udupi when six students alleged they had been barred from classes for insisting on keeping on the hijab.