New Delhi: Hijab controversy, which started in small-town Udupi in Karnataka has now snowballed into a huge political issue at the national level.
In one such major development, 10-15 students protesting the Hijab ban at Karnataka Bhawan in New Delhi's Chanakyapuri were detained by the police.
According to students' outfits SFI and AISA, they were supposed to gather at the Karnataka Bhavan at 3.30 PM against the ongoing hijab row, but Delhi Police detained the protestors before even they reached the site.
Delhi police picked them up a few kilometers from the protest site and took them to Mandir Marg police station in a police bus. To prevent any further protests at the site, hundreds of police personnel, buses, and a few water tanks were deployed to thwart any attempt.
The students who planned the protest and are now detained are affiliated with several student organizations, including the All India Students Association (AISA), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
On being asked why the students were detained, police personnel stationed at the protesting site replied that they are just following orders. Any such protest will not be entertained here, they said.
Similarly, students at Aligarh Muslim University in UP protested the Hijab ban in Karnataka and raised slogans against the BJP government. They also took a protest march from Jama Masjid after Friday prayers. Following that, police were deployed in large numbers outside the Bobe Syed Gate.
With posters and banners asking to raise voices against the dictatorship, students protested in the Aligarh Muslim University. They said Hijab is our 'dignity' and our right. Few other students had banners that said 'My Choice My Right'. Students raised slogans against BJP and RSS. The students also raised slogans of 'Azadi' and this slogan was related to freedom from the dictatorship of the government.
On Friday, the Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending considerations of all petitions related to the hijab row, has requested the state government to reopen educational institutions and restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijabs, and any religious flag within classrooms.
Protests for and against the hijab had intensified in parts of Karnataka and turned violent in some places on Tuesday after the state government last week issued an order making uniforms prescribed by it or management of private institutions mandatory for its students in schools and pre-university colleges. The Karnataka government had on Tuesday ordered the closure of all high schools and colleges in the state for three days.
The court also made it clear the order was confined to such institutions wherein the College Development Committees have prescribed the student dress code or uniform. Karnataka government has announced its decision to open schools from Monday for classes 1-10 but colleges will remain closed as of now.
