On Wednesday, Muslim girl students wearing hijab and burqa protested against a college in Tumkur after they were denied entry into the campus. They yelled ‘Allah-hu-Akbar, Allah-hu-Akbar’ slogans as they walked down in protest on the streets of Tumkur, Karnataka.
According to the reports, the colleges in Tumkur reopened today and stopped the hijab and burqa-wearing Muslim girls from entering the campus in accordance with the Karnataka High Court’s interim decision. The High Court last week had declared that nobody would dress up in religious attire in the educational institutes until the matter was being heard. The women were seen wearing hijab and burqa even after the HC’s order and kept on protesting for justice.
This is a day after the Karnataka govt imposed section 144 in Tumkur district ahead of the college reopening in order to prevent violence. The prohibitory order is to apply in and around 200 meters from the college in Tumkur. Reports mention that a total of nine districts in Karnataka are currently under Section 144. Also, police personnel have been posted near several schools and colleges to maintain law and order.
Earlier the day, a number of schools and college administrations in Karnataka didn’t allow students and teachers wearing hijab to enter the school, college premises. Tensions flared up as they were asked to remove the hijab at the school, college gates before entering the campus. SJMV College for Women in Hubli even declared a holiday for today after some girls insisted on entering the college in Hijab, which the college refused citing the High Court order. The girls had agreed to remove the burqa but refused to remove the hijab.
The hijab row that erupted earlier this month took an unprecedented turn after the Muslim girls wearing hijab gained massive support from Taliban, Pakistan leaders and also Islamists and liberal heads from within the country. So much so, that last week a couple of reports highlighted that students also offered Namaz inside the school premises. In Bagalkote and Kadapa in Mangalore, Muslim girls offered Namaz in the corridor area of a govt school even after the principal clearly directed the students that they can’t offer Namaz in the classrooms or in the school premises.
Pertinently, the girls chanting ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ on the streets of Tumkur probably have drawn inspiration from Muskan Khan who had shouted ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ at a group of students inside PES College in Mandya, Karnataka on February 8. She was later rewarded with a brand new iPhone, cash and a house for defending the Islamic agenda.
The Police meanwhile and the local administrative authorities in Karnataka have suspected that the Campus Front of India (CFI) has instigated the girls to run the Muslim agenda and are investigating into the matter. Udupi MLA K Raghupathi Bhat has also called for an NIA investigation into the hijab controversy. “The students all by themselves cannot plant themselves into such a massive operations and conjure up such support for the Hijab movement”, he said.
The girls have admitted to have been consulting CFI over the hijab row. They have been in talks with the CFI since October 2021 and the pro-hijab protests started in December 2021. Reportedly, CFI is the students with of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), an extremist organisation banned in various states.
The High Court so far has declared that no one should be allowed to wear their religious attire inside the educational institutions until the matter is pending in the Court. However, the Supreme Court denied to interfere in the matter after the girls impatiently knocked the doors of the apex court.