AMU Students March in Solidarity with Girls in Karnataka Protesting Against Hijab Ban

New Delhi, 12 Feb 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: A protest demonstration was held by the students at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) inside the campus on Friday afternoon against the Karnataka government’s ban on hijab in educational institutions. During the demo, the students vehemently demanded that every person should have the freedom to wear any dress of choice.

Around a hundred students, who turned up for the demonstration, were mostly women wearing hijab. They took out a march around the campus as part of their protest against what they called as injustice to the Muslim woman students and in solidarity with their counterparts in the southern state.

Police personnel were deployed at the university entrance during the demonstration to meet with any eventuality.

The protesting students raised slogans like “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest) and “La Ilaha Ilalah” (there’s no god, but Allah) as they marched in the campus. Some students were seen holding placards reading ‘In solidarity with Karnataka students‘, ‘Stop Islamophobia‘, and ‘Lady Zindabad Inspires’ alluding to Muskan, the braveheart who shot to fame after taking on a mob of Hindutva activists singlehandedly.

“We want to request the government not to ban our hijab,” a student was quoted as saying at the protest site. “Listen to us. We won’t take off our hijab, we’ve been wearing it for years.”

Pointing out that choice of dress is “our constitutional right”, she further said, “People are trying to make it a Hindu-Muslim issue, but we just want outright to choose what to wear.”

The issue of hijab is currently sub judice as it has been already taken up by the Karnataka High Court for hearing. On Thursday, the court has issued an interim order asking students not to insist on religious clothing till the court resolves the matter.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Karnataka where a major row erupted over the ban on hijab at campuses by a number of colleges following objections from Hindu students who threatened to parade saffron-colored shawls if Muslim girls were allowed to cover their heads.

The aggrieved Muslim girls, on the other hand, mounted a defiant resistance against the ban even as they moved the court apart from holding demonstrations. The issue attracted widespread attention with political leaders and activists coming out in support of the girls.