Hijab ban forces choice of religion or education: Muslim students

The stand-off has increased fear and anger among minority Muslims, who say the country’s constitution grants them the freedom to wear what they want. Protests over the ban have escalated, with hundreds demonstrating this month in Kolkata and Chennai.(Reuters) 

UDIPI, India, Feb 12 (Reuters) -  Ayesha Imthiaz, a devout Indian Muslim who considers wearing a hijab an expression of devotion to the Prophet Mohammad, says a move by her college to expel hijab-wearing girls is an insult that will force her to chose between religion and education.  

“The humiliation of being asked to leave my classroom for wearing a head scarf by college officials has shaken my core belief,” said the 21-year-old student from southern Karnataka’s Udupi district, where protests over the head covering ban began.   “My religion has been questioned and insulted by a place which I had considered as a temple of education,” she told Reuters.  “It is more like telling us you chose between your religion or education, that’s a wrong thing,” she said after studying for five years at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial college in Udupi.  
Several Muslim girls who protested the ban had received threatening calls and were forced to stay indoors, she added.  College officials say students are allowed to wear the hijab on campus and only asked them to take it off inside the classroom.  

Udupi is one of three districts in Karnataka’s religiously sensitive coastal region, which is a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  

The stand-off has increased fear and anger among minority Muslims, who say the country’s constitution grants them the freedom to wear what they want. Protests over the ban have escalated, with hundreds demonstrating this month in Kolkata and Chennai.