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Schools ordered shut in southern India as hijab ban triggers protests

Tuesday, 08 February 2022 7:15 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 February 2022 7:23 PM ]

Activists from a Muslim student federation shout slogans during a demonstration in in India's capital, New Delhi, on February 8, 2022. (Photo by AFP)

Authorities in India's southern Karnataka State have ordered schools and colleges to shut as protests intensified over a ban on Islamic headscarves that has outraged Muslim students.

The state's chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced on Tuesday that all high schools in the state would be closed for three days. He also appealed for calm.

“I appeal to all the students, teachers and management of schools and colleges... to maintain peace and harmony,” he said.

Protests erupted in response to some schools refusing entry to students wearing the hijab (Islamic veil). Fresh demonstrations on Tuesday saw officers fire tear gas to disperse a crowd at one government-run campus in the region.

Students at a government-run high school were told not to wear hijabs last month, an edict that soon spread to other educational institutions in the state. Campuses have seen escalating tensions and confrontations over the past few days.

Muslim female students say that wearing the hijab is a fundamental right to religion guaranteed by the constitution.

Karnataka’s top court began hearing a petition challenging the legality of the ban on Tuesday. While no final order was passed, the judge appealed for peace and calm, and the court will continue hearing the petition on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governs Karnataka State, where 12% of the population is Muslim. The ban has galvanized fears among the Muslim community about what they say is increasing persecution under the Hindu nationalist government.

India’s anti-Muslim campaign aided by digital platforms

As India state elections draw near, anti-Muslim rhetoric is flaring up in the world’s largest democracy.

Opposition parties accuse the BJP government at federal and state levels of discriminating against religious minorities.

Muslims across India complain of being victim to government-sanctioned harassment and hate crimes by extremist Hindu elements as well as discriminatory regulatory policies.

Critics say Modi’s election in 2014 emboldened hardline extremist groups that view India as a "Hindu nation" and consider its 200-million-strong Muslim minority as a foreign threat.

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