Karnataka hijab controversy is polarising its classrooms
That’s the question troubling Saima, whose name has been changed on request. Last week, the 20-year-old was one of several hijab-clad Muslim women who watched anxiously as hundreds of Hindu students protested against Islamic headscarves. They were wearing saffron scarves and turbans, and yelling Jai Shri Ram or “victory to Lord Ram” – the chant and the colour are commonly associated with the Hindu right-wing.
Saima, the only Muslim woman in her class, says she saw many of her classmates among the protesters.
The hijab has become the subject of a fierce debate in India. It all began last month when six teenagers at a government-run college in Karnataka’s Udupi district began protesting after they were barred from classes for wearing headscarves.
The issue quickly turned divisive with Hindu students turning up in colleges wearing saffron shawls, and right-wing groups on both sides making provocative statements. Fearing violence, the state government shut down high schools and colleges.
The question of whether Muslim girls and women in Karnataka can wear the hijab in school and college will be decided by the state’s high court which is currently hearing the matter.
As they prepare to return to classes on Wednesday, young people on both sides of the divide are struggling to understand their classmates and friends.
“I worry that this will obviously create an environment of hate in the class,” says Saima.
“We will start thinking that he is a Hindu and that’s why he stood against me, and they will think that she is a Muslim and that’s why she was against me.”
Aakanksha Hanchinamath, who goes to Saima’s college, was one of the saffron-wearing protesters last week.
The protest was the result of a “collective decision” by Hindu students, Ms Hanchinamath said.
“We wanted to show them what will happen if you bring religion into it,” she said.
This part of Karnataka has long seen radicalization among student groups – be it the student wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power in Karnataka, or the Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic group, Popular Front of India.
In this case, the CFI supported the girls protesting in Udupi – and as the issue snowballed, the BJP’s student wing led marches with students sporting saffron shawls.
“If communal organizations like the CFI support Muslim students, then why should we and our girls watch silently?” says Raghupathi Bhat, a BJP lawmaker from Udupi.
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