UDUPI: The three-week-long headscarf row, which has cast a shadow on the academic atmosphere at the Women's Government PU College in Udupi, is showing no signs of abatement, with political interests now joining the issue.
The College Development Committee, led by local BJP leaders, is steadfast on not allowing Muslim girl students inside classrooms if they wear headscarves. They claim that it goes against the institution's rules on uniform.
While the Campus Front of India, affiliated to the Popular Front of India (PFI), had initially taken up the cause of the girl students who were protesting after being denied to wear headscarves in classrooms, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), a student-wing of the Indian National Congress (INC), took up the cause on Friday.
A delegation of the NSUI state committee arrived at the college to meet the principal and to ask him to uphold the 'constitutional' rights of the students. However, with some students reportedly testing COVID-positive, the college was closed on Friday.
Faraq Bayabe, vice-president of NSUI, Karnataka, told reporters that a writ petition will be filed before the High Court if the fundamental right of wearing the hijab is denied to Muslim girl students.
The delegation then submitted an appeal to Udupi Deputy Commissioner Kurma Rao seeking justice for the students. As soon as right wing organizations got a hint that the NSUI delegation was arriving at the college, Hindu Jagarana Vedike leaders arrived there and gave reporters their version.
Hindu Jagarana Vedike's Mangaluru divisional general secretary Prakash Kukkehalli said if the hijab is allowed, Hindu boys will wear saffron shawls in all colleges in the district and attend classes.
He further said if the headscarf is allowed, in future, the students may demand that skull caps and burqas also be allowed claiming it to be their religious symbols. "The true spirit of the Constitution to uphold equality will then go," he said, indicating that the headscarf row is not going to end anytime soon.