Hijab Row: Delhi Police detains AISA workers marching towards Karnataka Bhawan
New Delhi, Feb 10: The Left-affiliated All India Students' Association (AISA) staged a protest outside the Karnataka Bhawan here on Thursday in solidarity with the Muslim students of the southern state over the issue of prohibition on the wearing of hijab.
The protesters alleged that they were "beaten" up by police, around 50 of them were detained and taken to the Mandir Marg police station.
"Several protesters have been dealt injuries. Madhurima Kundu, AISA JNU secretary, was scratched with nails by the constables of Delhi Police. Police have stolen AISA placards and dafli and are refusing to return it. We demand action against the police officers who attacked Madhurima and other women comrades," the students' body said in a statement.
A senior police officer said the members of the AISA and the Students' Federation of India (SFI) gathered in central Delhi around 4 pm. "They were detained from a spot near the Assam Bhawan on Kautilya Marg and taken to the police station in buses," the officer added.
The BJP-led Karnataka government issued an order last week, making uniforms prescribed by it or the management of private institutions mandatory for students in schools and pre-university colleges across the state. Protests erupted in the southern state over students being denied entry to educational institutions due to the wearing of hijab.
#WATCH | Delhi Police detains AISA workers marching towards Karnataka Bhawan in the national capital to protest against Karnataka Govt's rule on dress code in schools#HijabRow pic.twitter.com/Qe1QhpvXNi
— ANI (@ANI) February 10, 2022
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
