By Thomas Scaria

Mangaluru, Feb 6, 2022: The government of Karnataka has issued an order to ban religious dress in educational institutions to help maintain harmony in the southern Indian state.

The February 5 move came after a dress code controversy in educational institutions divided some coastal districts of the state.

The controversy started after Muslim girls wearing hijab (veil) were kept out of classrooms a month ago. The problem began at a government Pre University College in Kundapur when six Muslim girl students were refused entry into class room for wearing hijab. They had to stand outside the classroom that made headlines in the media.

“This is against the human rights to deny entry for us,” the students, who have filed a complaint with the High Court of Karnataka, told the media.

This prompted some Hindu students to come to the classroom wearing saffron shawls as a protest. They were prevented from entering classrooms.

Saffron color is associated with Hindu nationalist groups.

The controversy spread to more colleges in the first week of February and tension prevailed across the state.

Another Government PU College at Byndoor in Udupi district on February 4 barred 12 students wearing hijab and 150 boys with saffron shawls.

The government’s latest order has made it mandatory for students to adhere to the uniforms set by the respective schools or colleges.

“Cloths which disturb equality, integrity and public order should not be allowed,” said the government order. The order came ahead of February 8 when the Karnataka High Court is scheduled to hear the Muslim girls’ petition.

The education department has issued the order asking all government schools and Pre University colleges in the state to follow the prescribed uniform by all students irrespective of their religious differences.

Eric C Lobo, who manages a college of medical sciences in Mulki near Udupi, points out that the Hijab controversy is not new to Mangalore. “It keeps popping up every now and then,” the Catholic educationist told Matters India.

Lobo insisted that every student should adhere to the dress code of an institution. “Religion should be kept out of the campuses,” he asserted.

In 2018, some Muslim students protested the decision of the century-old St. Agnes College in Mangalore to ban hijab in the classrooms. The students in hijab had taken to the streets protesting the college decision under the banner of Campus Front of India, a Muslim students’ movement.

However, Apostolic Carmel Sister Jeswina, the then principal of the college, refused to budge.

In a statement, she had said the college is a minority institution catering to women’s education.

“We respect every student who chooses to study here. Accordingly the college rules, the students are not permitted to wear headscarf inside the classroom. The students and their parents are aware of this rule before seeking admission in our college,” said the principal.

However, the college has said that the management has no objection if students wear the headscarf outside classroom.

Another Catholic college to ban burqua in classrooms was the Jesuit-managed St. Aloysius College in Mangalore. Its 2012 ban, however, allowed its students to wear headscarf. The Jesuit college admits students from both gender while the Carmel college is exclusively for girls.

Meanwhile Congress leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Sashi Tharoor came out in support of the rights of the Muslim students to wear hijab in colleges.

“By letting hijab come in the way of their education, we are robbing the future of the daughters of India,” tweeted Gandhi, while Tharoor accused of politicizing Karnataka hijab row.

“If the hijab is disallowed, how about the Sikh turban, Hindu shawls and Christian crucifix?” Tharoor asked, saying it is a plotted to disturb peace.

Father Faustine Lobo, the spokesperson of the Karnataka Catholic Bishops’ Council, told Matters India that the hijab row is created by the “divisive forces in society”

“I don’t think the girls have created this controversy, but they are used by someone else flare communal tension,” said the priest who also questions the reaction of the Hindu students coming in large numbers with their saffron shawls to the college.

“One wrong doing cannot be corrected by another wrong move,” said the priest who suspects the move was a “plot against the minorities.”

Karnataka’s Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.V Nagesh said the High courts of Kerala and Mumbai had earlier passed verdicts disallowing students to wear headscarves in schools.

A member of the Legislative Assembly in Mangalore U T Khader said hijabs were allowed earlier in those college and suddenly the college banned it fuelling a controversy.