A group of students in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh have asked a college to prevent female students from wearing the hijab, following a controversy over limits on the head covering in a southern Indian state.
After a new uniform policy forbade students from wearing headscarves in class, authorities in the southern Indian state of Karnataka last week shut down institutions in response to protests by Muslim and Hindu students alike.
Several Muslim organisations have criticised the prohibition as an attempt to further marginalise a group that makes up around 13% of India’s Hindu population.
At a college in Aligarh district, in Uttar Pradesh, a group of more than two dozen young men delivered a memorandum to its administrators on Monday asking for a full ban on the hijab within its compound.
The college’s main proctor, Mukesh Bharadwaj, claimed he did not recognise the people because they wore saffron scarves around their necks, which are generally worn by Hindus. Wearing religious garb in classes is now prohibited, but students are free to wear it anywhere else on campus.
On Tuesday, Bharadwaj contacted Reuters by phone and informed them of the situation, “The same problem was brought up two years ago, and it has been brought up again. Religious attire is not permitted in our school, and we enforce a uniform code for everyone “.
According to the teacher, “There is a girls’ changing room where they may change their clothes before class.” He said that the institute’s administration is looking into the issue of uniforms and a civil uniform code for everyone.
Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, rules Uttar Pradesh, a state with a population believed to be as large as Brazil. The state is in the midst of a multi-phase election cycle that will conclude next month. Disputes between Hindus and Muslims in the state are often leveraged for political benefit.
An Indian court has previously ruled on the subject of the hijab. On Tuesday, the hearing over whether the hijab should be permitted in the classroom will resume.
