Karnataka hijab row: Student ‘replaces’ tricolour with saffron flag in Shimoga
A Karnataka college student allegedly replaced the tricolour at a Shimoga institute with a saffron flag.

Reacting to the incident, Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar said: “The situation in some Karnataka educational institutions has gone so out of hand that in one case the National flag was replaced by a saffron flag. I think the affected institutions should be closed for a week to restore law and order. Teaching can continue online.”

Section 144 has been imposed in Shimoga after incidents of stone-pelting were reported on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister Sidaramaiah led Congress’s demand to immediately announce a holiday for all schools & colleges.

“I urge Karnataka CM to immediately announce a holiday for all the schools and colleges, where the tussle about Hijab & Kesari is going on, and conduct online classes. This is absolutely necessary for the interest of the safety of students,” he wrote on Twitter.

I urge @CMofKarnataka @BSBommai to immediately announce holiday to all the schools & colleges, where the tussle about Hijab & Kesari is going on, and conduct online classes.

This is absolutely necessary in the interest of safety of students.#ಶಿಕ್ಷಣಹಕ್ಕು

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) February 8, 2022

Taking to Twitter, Congress leader D K Shivakumar said, that the affected institutions should be closed till law and order are restored. wrote,” The situation in some Karnataka educational institutions has gone so out of hand that in one case the National flag was replaced by a saffron flag. I think the affected institutions should be closed for a week to restore law and order. Teaching can continue online.”

KARNATAKA HIGH COURT HEARING PETITIONS ON HIJAB ROW

While hearing the matter, the Karnataka High Court said that it will go by the Constitution and not by emotions. The court said, “Keep emotions away. Let’s go by facts and what the Constitution says. AG also should keep emotions aside.”

Justice Krishna Dixit said, “We will go by reason, by law, not by passion or emotions. We will go by what the Constitution says. The Constitution is the Bhagavad Gita for me. I have taken the oath to abide by the Constitution. Let’s keep the emotions aside. We can’t see this happening every day.”

Justice Krishna Dixit : We will go by reason, by law, not by passion or emotions. We will go by what Constitution says. Constitution is the Bhagavad Gita for me. I have taken the oath to abide by Constitution. Lets keep the emotions aside.#KarnatakaHijabRow #KarnatakaHighCourt

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) February 8, 2022

WHAT IS THE HIJAB CONTROVERSY?

On January 1, six Muslim students of a government Pre-University college in Karnataka’s Udupi were barred from attending classes because they were wearing a hijab. The college management cited a new uniform policy behind the reason for the ban.  The girls previously were wearing the hijab and these new rules were chalked out presumably during the pandemic when schools and colleges were closed down and laws enforced when they returned back to college after two years.

The issue has now spilled over to other government colleges in Udupi with several students protesting against a ban on hijab.

It naturally came as a jaw-dropper to be locked out of college, and at the same time triggering emotions linked to the recent hate-filled Hardiwar conferences where leaders made noxious statements seemingly executing plans to massacre Muslims.  The recent law on banning the hijab appeared once again to be a targeted attack on Muslims from the new Chief Minister Basavaraj Somappa Bommai who had embarked on a campaign to target both Muslims and Christians with churches and Christians also getting attacked recently in Karnataka.