- Divya Arya
- BBC correspondent, from Udupi
Black cloth on face, saffron shawl around neck. Students chanting “Jai Shri Ram” with these symbols. This scene took place on February 8th.
Student Akongsha S. Hanjinamat was one of the hundreds of students who rallied in front of the students demanding the right to hijab.
At the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) College campus in Udupi, Karnataka, after ringing the bell for the next class, the group of students stood face to face with Muslim students wearing hijab.
On that day, students in several colleges, including MGM College in Karnataka, staged a protest against the hijab-wearing students by wearing a kavit piece and wearing it around their heads.
We met Akongsha at his house. Then, he showed me the saffron shawl he had. He mentioned to us that he went to college that day with full arrangements.
“We all decided it together. I had a saffron shawl in my bag. We wanted to show what the effect of bringing religion in the middle of education would be,” he says.
On the eve of the protest, several Hindu students told the school principal that they too would wear khawi shawls if Muslim students continued to wear the hijab. Following this, the Chief Minister met the Muslim students and appealed to them not to wear hijab in the classrooms anymore.
Until the day before the event, students were allowed to wear the hijab in the classrooms of MGM College.
Some Muslim students, who spoke to us on condition that they do not reveal their identities, confirmed the conversation with the school principal.
They said we were “surprised” by the chief’s request.
A Muslim student told us, “Students were told at the time of admission that they could wear the hijab at this educational institution. That is why they did not take admission in another college. It is wrong to put these new rules in the middle of the academic year now. The hijab is our identity. It is our constitutional right to wear it. Is the command of Allah, “he says.
Three students in Akangsha’s class also wore hijab.
“I never divide my friends on the basis of religion. Make friends at will. Identities like Hindu-Muslim are not a problem for us.”
Then how serious is the problem?
Akangsha
Of controversy Start
There is no such thing as a single policy regarding wearing hijab in Udupi colleges.
Like MGM College, many private colleges make it clear in their rules about the permission or restriction on hijab.
At the same time, in government colleges, this rule is set every year. In December 2021, the college banned the hijab because of the voices of many demanding the right to wear the hijab.
After the corona general freeze, pre-college classes at the Government University for Women opened, and it was revealed that senior students were wearing the hijab in high school classes for students admitted in the eleventh grade (or pre-university). So they demanded permission for the same.
The decision on uniforms in all government upper secondary colleges in Udupi is taken by the College Development Committee headed by the Member of the Legislative Assembly.
However, BJP MLA Raghuveer Bhatt did not accept the demands of the students in this matter.
“It’s a matter of student discipline. Everyone should wear the same uniform,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
Despite criticism that the BJP MLA’s decision had an ideological impact on his party, Raghuveer Bhatt said he did not believe it.
“There are other issues to do with politics, which is an education-related thing,” he says.
However, Raghuveer Bhatt acknowledged that Hindu organizations such as the All India Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Hindu Jagran Vedike had supported Hindu students to protest with religious identities.
In several videos shared on social media, I was able to see saffron shawls and towels in use among students from many new parts of Karnataka as well.
Commenting on this, Raghuveer Bhatt said, “Madam, there is a reaction to every action. When a communal organization like the Campus Front of India spoils the situation and tells women that it is against the rules, will our organizations and Hindu women be watching it?” That begs the question.
Raghuveer Butt blames the ‘Campus Front of India’ for the controversy that started from a college and gradually spread to other parts of the state.
Rules for educational institutions in Karnataka
To doLook Reaction
Action-Reaction – These words are heard over and over again in Udupi.
Udupi, known as the city of temples, is home to 10 percent Muslims and 6 percent Christians. Muslims and non-Muslims live in harmony without living in different areas. Here all religions come together in one place. They get used to it. They work together in many professions.
It is common here to see women wearing burqas or hijabs in the streets. But in the current tense situation all our attempts to speak simultaneously with Muslim and Hindu students have failed.
A Muslim student at MGM College says the February 8 incident still lingers deep in his mind.
“Everyone who fought was from our college, especially most of my class. I was so sad because my fellow students protested there against me,” he says.
Raghuveer Bhatt, BJP MLA
On February 8, students from several educational institutions, including MGM College, raised slogans at various locations. Following this, the Karnataka government ordered the closure of all colleges. Doubts also arose as to whether they would reopen.
“Student-student activities openly spread hatred and cause an impression that Hindus are anti-Muslim and Muslims are anti-Hindu. An atmosphere of hatred will develop,” the Muslim student said.
The ‘Karnataka Communal Reconciliation Forum’ has been working against the growing communalism in Karnataka for the last 30 years.
Its senior member is Prof. K.S. Paniraj says communal forces have gradually strengthened in many parts of Karnataka and it is necessary to look at the action-reaction to the current controversy from a historical perspective.
Prof. Paniraj K.
History of Communalism – Professor of Analysis
Paniraj’s organization has been collecting information on communal incidents in South Karnataka and Udupi districts since 2010.
Data from his organization show that about 100 cases are reported each year, such as ‘moral policing’, ‘hate speech’, ‘physical assault’, ‘damage to religious places of worship’, and ‘animal surveillance’.
“After the Ram Janma Bhoomi movement in the 1990s, we can see the rapid rise of the ABVP and the decline of the SFI and the Congress Student Union.
According to him, organizations like the Campus Front of India have been formed only for the rights of Muslim students.
In this case, the CFI, the student wing of the Popular Front of India, is accused of inciting trouble for political gain and of preventing Muslim women from going to court.
Aswan Sadiq, CFI National General Secretary
However, this was denied by Aswan Sadiq, the National General Secretary of the CFI. He says there has been no provocative reaction from their side.
“The ABVP intervened when students came to the streets wearing saffron colored pieces. BJP MPs and MLAs started issuing political statements. Then the problem escalated,” Sadiq said.
Aswan cites two other instances in which the situation in this case got worse.
First, Minister Sunil Kumar’s statement – “We will not allow Karnataka to become Taliban”.
Second, BJP leader Vasankela Patil’s statement – “Do you want a hijab, go to Pakistan”.
Discussions on the issue heated up on Kannada news television. They were then shared as memes on social networking sites to provoke similar religious sentiments.
The hijab controversy that has already erupted
This is not the first time the hijab issue has been raised in Udupi.
In this part of coastal Karnataka, questions have been raised since 2005 about the wearing of the hijab by Muslim students in college.
Whenever an issue arises the school, the principal of the colleges, the college committee and the student leaders will discuss and resolve the matter for the time being. The media never gave much importance to those things.
This time the matter became more complicated and went to court. Moreover, it posed the question of the constitutional right to religious freedom.
Image source, UMESH MARPALLY
Their activity raises the fundamental question of how unrestricted their ‘choice’ to wear the hijab and khawi shawl should be.
I mean, to what extent do students make decisions in this? Questions are raised as to the extent to which traditions, community, family, and religious leaders make decisions.
Malike, a member of the women’s rights group Mahila Munnade, says, “The use of religious symbols increases when a community feels they are being targeted.”
“In Karnataka, the custom of wearing the burqa is not so common, only Muslim women wear the dupatta on the head. But that custom changed after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is being followed by the present generation,” says Malike.
Attacks on issues like hybrid love, beef eating and cow slaughter are reported to be continuing in Karnataka.
“Religious practices such as the hijab and burqa within educational institutions may be questioned, but at the same time it is important to look at the ongoing attacks on the minority community from their perspective,” Malike said.
When we spoke to Akonsha from MGM College, you said that the hijab did not affect you in any way. But then why did you try to wear saffron shawl? We asked.
To which he replies, “Saffron shawl is not anti, it is a reaction.”
The “reaction” he speaks of is understandable when you look at other students who behave like him.
What he wants now is equality. Akonsha says it will only happen if everyone is guaranteed a uniform.
The uniform, which shows equality for Muslim students, is a symbol of religious discrimination. We are waiting for peace to return to our campus and everything will be the same, “he said.
Other News: