Several students, at a government college in Koppa taluk of Chikmagalur, Karnataka, staged a protest against female Muslim students who insisted on wearing the hijab inside classrooms.
Hijab seems to have become a controversial issue with a similar incident in college 3 years ago. Several students have come to the college carrying saffron shawls to condemn female Muslim students for wearing the hijab for no apparent reason.
The incident comes soon after another government college in Karnataka’s Udupi city banned the wearing of the hijab, saluting and speaking in Urdu language.
On 2nd January 2022, PU, ​​the government college for girls in Udupi, Karnataka, banned scarves inside classrooms. According to the administration, the rule is being followed to ensure uniformity in the classes.
In addition, six college girls in Udupi were protesting the government’s decision, alleging that the government had barred them from using Urdu and Arabic languages ​​in the college.
The protesting students said that their parents had gone to the college to talk to the principal but the principal refused to answer them.
The year 2021 has seen a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes in Karnataka, with Hindutva organizations such as Hindu Jagran Vedic calling for curbs on the fundamental rights and freedoms of Muslims.
