UDUPI
Some schools reopened in the Indian state of Karnataka on Monday after closing last week when protests erupted over students being barred from wearing the hijab in class.
The issue, widely seen by India’s Muslim minority community as a bid to sideline it by authorities in a Hindu-dominated nation, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares for elections in key states.
Police stood guard as students in pink uniforms, about a dozen wearing the hijab, entered a government girl’s school where the issue first flared in the southern Indian state’s district of Udupi, about 400 km from the tech hub of Bengaluru.
Authorities have banned gatherings of more than five people within 200 metres of educational institutions in the area, as classes from primary to high school began. Colleges remain shut.
A court in the state last week told students not to wear any religious clothing — ranging from saffron shawls, worn by some Hindus, to headscarves — in classrooms until further notice.
Devadatt Kamat, a lawyer in the case, said in an online hearing on Monday that his clients had been covering their heads in class since joining school. They were mainly seeking permission to keep wearing headscarves in the colours of school uniforms, he said.
Last week some schools refused entry to girls and women wearing the hijab, citing a Feb 5 order on uniforms by the state, ruled by Modi’s party.
Some Muslim students and parents protested the move, drawing counter protests from Hindu students who wore saffron shawls and shouted slogans.
Modi’s party derives its support mainly from the majority Hindu community, which makes up about 80% of India’s population of roughly 1.4 billion, while Muslims account for about 13%.
Ayesha Imtiaz, a student in Udupi, said it was humiliating to be asked to take off the hijab before class.
An official in the coastal district, Pradeep Kurudekar, told reporters that authorities would wait for further orders from the government to resume all classes.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation urged the United Nations to take notice of the anti-Muslim incidents in India.
In a series of tweets on its official account @OIC_OCI, it said: “The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expresses deep concern over recent public calls for genocide of Muslims by the ‘Hindutva’ proponents in Haridwar in the state of Uttarakhand…and reported incidents of harassment of Muslim women on social media sites as well as banning of Muslim girl students from wearing hijab in the state of Karnataka.
“The OIC General Secretariat calls upon the international community, especially the UN mechanisms and Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, to take necessary measures in this regard.
“The OIC General Secretariat further urges India to ensure the safety, security & well-being of the Muslim community while protecting the way of life of its members & to bring the instigators & perpetrators of acts of violence and hate crimes against them to justice.”
