Hijab jihad: Right wing groups in Karnataka seek NIA probe

The statements come at a time when both the right wing groups and their minority counterparts have been accused of fanning the hijab row ahead of crucial polls like zilla and taluka panchayat as well as the 2023 assembly elections

A “hijab jihad” is being unleashed by extremist organisations to destabilise the country, said right wing groups Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday while seeking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the ongoing controversy in Karnataka’s educational institutions.

The students of Government Girl’s Pre-University College had started their protest on January 13,weeks after college authorities issued an order banning the hijab inside classrooms. (PTI)

“Through the hijab, a jihad is being carried out. Earlier, it was love jihad, land jihad and as an extension of this, now hijab jihad is being carried out. The government must get this probed by the NIA,” said Bajrang Dal state convener Sunil KR on Wednesday in Udupi, about 400 km from Bengaluru.

The statements come at a time when both the right wing groups and their minority counterparts have been accused of fanning the hijab row ahead of crucial polls like zilla and taluka panchayat as well as the 2023 assembly elections.“The VHP and Bajrang Dal are ready to fight these forces,” he added.

“It is the Popular Front of India (PFI) and their affiliates like Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Campus Front of India (CFI) who are provoking the students at Government Girls Pre-University College in Udupi as well as flaring up the situation in other parts of the state,” said a member from the right wing organisation, pleading anonymity

Meanwhile, the SDPI on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “sponsoring and promoting” the hijab-saffron row.

SDPI state general secretary BR Bhaskar Prasad said, “The entire episode is a criminal act sponsored by the ruling BJP.” He was addressing reporters in Mangaluru, about 40 km south of Udupi.

Several right wing groups have been accused of supplying saffron shawls and turbans to Hindu students, HT had reported earlier.

“No right wing group had anything to do with the supplying of saffron shawls to school and college students,” said the Bajrang Dal state convener Sunil. However, he did add, “For every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction,” justifying the Hindu students’ reaction to the hijab row.

He said that the group was confident that the Karnataka high court (HC) order would come in favour of “us”.

“If the order does not come in our favour, then we will discuss the next course of action,” he said, hinting, that there is a possibility that even Hindu students would demand their religious rights to be allowed inside the same educational institutions.

The students of Government Girl’s Pre-University College had started their protest on January 13,weeks after college authorities issued an order banning the hijab inside classrooms.

A three-judge bench led by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, justice J M Khazi and justice Krishna M Dixit have been hearing multiple petitions filed in the matter. Last Thursday, the bench had given an interim order that no religious attire will be allowed with the uniforms until a final verdict is delivered in the case. The proceedings are ongoing in the matter.

Meanwhile, a PTI report, while attributing to the SDPI, stated that there was nothing in the Constitution that banned the hijab while Hindu religious symbols like the thread and “nama” (vermillion) were allowed in the same institutions.

SDPI state president Abdul Majeed said that the high court interim order is applicable only to colleges where development committees have prescribed a dress code, PTI reported. The district administrations and the education department are creating confusion over the order, Majeed charged.

He even accused the Congress of double standards and said that they should clarify their stand on the controversy as the grand old party maintains silence on the issue but are heavily dependent on minority votes.

Meanwhile, the PFI’s women wing, National Women’s Front (NWF) alleged that Muslim girls are being subjected to mental harassment over the hijab issue.

NWF Dakshina Kannada district president Zulaikha Bajpe condemned the attitude of some school administrations and teachers who are ‘torturing’ girl students under the pretext of implementing the high court order. Schools reopened in southern India under tight security on Wednesday with public gatherings banned following protests over Muslim girls wearing the hijab in classrooms.

With agency inputs