Hijab ban: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, Education Minister urge students not to get provoked

Basavaraj Bommai. File Pic

As students across Karnataka were coming to colleges wearing hijabs and saffron shawals, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Education Minister B.C. Nagesh on Monday urged them not to get provoked and follow government orders regarding the ongoing row.

Addressing the media, Bommai, who is currently in New Delhi, said all the students must follow the state government order issued regarding uniforms.

The students must not make any attempts to disturb the peace, he added. "The court order is coming tomorrow (Tuesday). The state government will take a decision on the issue once the order comes. As the case is before the court I don't want to speak about it."

He further said that there were forces active behind stirring up the hijab row in the state, as it had earlier surfaced in Kerala and Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Nagesh told reporters in Mysuru: "The students must come wearing uniforms to the colleges. Students wearing hijabs and saffron shawls will not be permitted to enter.

"It's your wish that until you reach college entrance you can wear clothes of your choice. Once you come inside the gate, you have to be in uniform."

The state Education Minister defended the measure of sending hijab-wearing and saffron cladding students to separate rooms in the Udupi Government PU College, adding that the government will frame rules on the uniform after the order from the High Court.

The management of Kundapur Government Pre University College also sent hijab-wearing and saffron shawls cladding to separate rooms inside the premises of the college.

The College Development Committee spokesperson Mohan Das Shenoy stated that Muslim students who are agitating outside would be allowed inside the college premises and given a separate room. However, they won't be allowed to attend classes until they remove the hijab as per the government order.

The hijab row has now spread across the states, including in Chikkaballapur, Chikkamagalur, Hassan, Mandya, Vijayapura.

It has affected seven colleges in Udupi alone, while also spreading to Bommai's native district of Haveri.

The row took a new turn with students of IDSG College in Chikkamaglur district, who came in blue shawls in support of wearing the hijab by Muslim students.

They raised 'Jai bheem' slogans and condemned the communalisation of education.

After declaring a holiday at the Shanteshwar PUC College and GRB Colleges in Vijayapura, the saffron shawl wearing students gathered in front of the entrance gates and raised the slogans of Jai Shri Ram'.

The Muslim students who came wearing the hijab have said that they were not bothered about the state government's order and were awaiting for the directive from the High Court of Karnataka on the matter.

The Hindu students are adamant that until the hijab is allowed, they will come wearing saffron shawls.

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