Briefly, there was tension in the air when it was alleged that Rev Fr GAP Kishore, Principal, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada, had stopped two students from entering the campus because they were wearing hijab. However, the principal shared that he only asked the students to attend classes in the college uniform after removing their hijab in the waiting hall for girls. This is the practice that has been followed for years, he said.
It was when the two final-year students were allegedly asked to enter the campus after removing the hijab when the trouble began while the students claimed that they have been coming to the college in a hijab since their first year. "Why are they objecting today? We don't understand. Even my identity card has a photograph where I was wearing a hijab," one of the two students who was denied entry told TNIE.
The students informed their parents, who turned up at the college with community elders in tow and immediately took up the issue with college authorities. "It's about our dignity, rights and tradition. Since the first year she was wearing a hijab and attending college. How can the college management now prevent her from entering the campus wearing it," they said.
Soon, the local police also rushed to the college so that the situation can be contained.
The family members claimed that the college correspondent asked students if they wanted to do what students in Karnataka were doing by wearing a hijab.
When the situation went out of control, the principal apologised after District Collector J Nivas and City Police Commissioner Kranti Rana Tata spoke to him over the phone. Later, the students were allowed into the class with their hijab.