How Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, famous for anti-CAA protest, is backing Karnataka’s hijab stir

The Karnataka hijab row seems to only be growing further with now protests at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.

Earlier, the protests were localised only to Karnataka’s Udupi area, but it has now spread and ripples of the controversy can be felt as far as Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh and even the National Capital.

Here’s the latest on the hijab row.

Protests at Shaheen Bagh

On Wednesday, Muslims of Shaheen Bagh took to the streets in a protest against the hijab diktat in government pre-university colleges in Karnataka.

Visuals showed women holding placards demanding justice, as people chanted “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the greatest) and raised slogans of “Inquilaab Zindabad” (Long live the revolution).

An Economic Times report quoted one protester as saying, “Who are you to tell me what to wear and what not to? What problems is my hijab creating?”

Another protester in a Times Now report said, “If hijabs aren’t permitted in classrooms, also ensure that Sikh turbans aren’t allowed, as well the orange scarves. What equality are they talking about.”

Mehmood Anwar of the AIMIM party was reportedly the coordinator of the event at Shaheen Bagh and said that as the place was a center for voices against Islamophobia, it was right to hold a protest and extend solidarity to the Muslim girls in Karnataka.

He added that the protest was not just against the hijab diktat but also against Islamophobia in India.

Shaheen Bagh’s claim to fame

It is important to note that Shaheen Bagh was the epicenter of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in 2019.

The protests had begun on 15 December 2019 and lasted until 24 March 2020. The protest was led by women who blocked a major road at Shaheen Bagh using non-violent resistance 24×7.

The protest began with only 10-20 women, but as days went by, it attracted thousands others. It become a 24x7 protest by students, professionals, activists, Muslim women, children, lawyers and several other people from all walks of life. Elderly women aged over 80 and 90 years also joined the protest.

The protests garnered attention all over the world with international media outlets such as BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Al Jazeera all carried reports on the protests.

In fact, an 82-year-old woman who was at the forefront of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi was been named by Time Magazine in its list of ‘100 Most Influential People of 2020’.

The Time magazine article authored by journalist Rana Ayyub talked of how Bilkis became the voice of the marginalised and she refused to budge from the Shaheen Bagh protest site even in the peak Delhi winters and threats from supporters of CAA.

Hijab row

The entire hijab controversy broke out when Udupi's Kundapur PU college's principal Rudra Gowda issued a circular, banning students from wearing hijabs in classrooms.

It quickly snowballed and other colleges in the area also began banning the hijab in classrooms, leading to the Muslim women students protesting.

In response, Hindu students of PU colleges in Udupi’s Bhandarkar and Byandoor adorned saffron in protest against girls adorning the hijab.

Students in Delhi hold placards during a protest against banning Muslim girls wearing hijab from attending classes at some schools in Karnataka. AP

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court hearing a petition against the hijab diktat on Wednesday referred the matter to a larger bench. The HC observed, "Having regard to the enormity of questions of importance which are debated, the court is of the considered opinion that the papers be put at the hand of CJ to decide if a larger bench can be constituted in the subject matter. Even interim prayers merit consideration at the hands of the larger bench that may be constituted by CJ in his discretion and therefore the arguments advanced on interim prayers are reproduced here.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, around 200 women students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University extended their "unflinching and unconditional support" to Muslim students in Karnataka, saying prohibiting women from wearing hijab reflects the "patriarchal and Islamophobic tendencies" of the State and its institutions.

In a statement, the students said forcing Muslim women to give up their hijab is a clear violation of Article 25 of the Indian constitution which guarantees religious freedom, and forbidding them from entering the classroom infringes upon Article 21 (A) and Article 15, which guarantee the right to education and prohibit discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth respectively.

With inputs from agencies

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