The hijab row in Karnataka seems to have found new vigour at Mangalore University. A student protest took place at University College Mangalore, a constituent college of Mangalore University, today over the issue, allegedly. They were gathered there to oppose students wearing headscarves while inside classrooms, as evidenced by videos uploaded on social media. But the college officials have denied this to be the reason. The protest was allegedly conducted by Hindu students who claimed that around 40 Muslim students are attending classes while wearing hijabs.
"There is some communication gap between the college administration and the students. This will be sorted out by evening today. Now we will send all the students home," said Mangalore University's Vice-Chancellor Dr P Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya when asked about the issue. In a conversation with EdexLive, the VC stated, "In the recently held university syndicate meeting at Bangalore, a decision to remove the clause in the prospectus that allowed students to wear headscarves in classrooms was taken. So now they are not allowed to wear headscarves while in class. The principal has notified me that students are not being allowed inside classes if wearing the hijab."
When EdexLive reached out Dr Anasuya Rai, Principal of University College Mangalore, for a comment, she said, "Today, we issued a memorandum that stated that students are not allowed to wear headscarves inside the campus. After this, a group of students sat for agitation. When asked to submit the reason for their protest in writing, they stated a different reason altogether. They said that they want a change in their student union president." Regarding the question of students protesting against the headscarf ban, she clarified saying, "Students who were wearing headscarves earlier, they are not protesting. They are a minority with just 44 in number out of a strength of over 1,600 students. Regarding the union president, we can't take any immediate action as the president was elected by students themselves." The principal went on to add that they will be issuing an official statement on the matter soon.
It may be recalled that on March 15, the Karnataka High Court Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices JM Khazi and Krishna Dixit had given a verdict stating that wearing the hijab was not an essential part of Islam.
