Mandya (Karnataka): The Karnataka Hijab vs Saffron row is taking an ugly turn with a video emerging from one of the colleges showing a saffron-clad group of students heckling a lone hijabi student. The viral video shows the confrontation between the Muslim student and the saffron-clad group. The video as per reports is from Mandya pre-university college.
The girl clad in a black abaya and a hijab parks her two-wheeler in the college premises. As soon as she walks towards the building, she is confronted by the bunch raising slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' while approaching her. In reply, the girl shouts 'Allah-u-Akbar'. The group of several dozen saffron-clad students then chases her.
As she halts to explain her frustration, the group rushes towards her in a bid to encircle her. The girl is however soon asked to leave the area as college officials try holding the boys back. By the end of the video, she is seen entering the college building. Following it, the group raises the slogans more vehemently.
The row which started from one college in Udupi last month where a principal had an issue with students wearing hijab has now snowballed into a massive political controversy with communally sensitive connotations.
The Karnataka high court is hearing a petition today against the restrictions on hijab filed by five women from a Udupi college. Despite the state government's order banning both hijab and saffron shawls from educational institutions, several colleges across the state's districts witnessed students wearing hijab demanding to be allowed to attend classes. The issue has started to divide the student fraternity with many saffron shawl-wearing students protesting against their Hijab-wearing counterparts.
"Our parents told us not to remove hijab, so we won't remove it. We will wait till the court verdict which will come on Tuesday," one of the students of the Udupi college told ETV Bharat recently. Wearing hijab, she said, was their 'fundamental right'. A few days back, the leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah spoke in support of the students and called the state government's decision to ban hijabs "unconstitutional".
Read: Hijab-saffron row: K'taka CM appeals for peace, Sec 144 imposed in Shimoga
