Hijab row: 200 JNU women students extend support to Muslim students in Karnataka

NEW DELHI: Around 200 women students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have 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.

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Last week, the Karnataka government issued an order making uniforms prescribed by it or management of private institutions mandatory for its students at schools and pre-university colleges across the state. Protests erupted in the state over students being denied entry to educational institutions due to the hijab.

"We, the women students of JNU, uphold the right of these women to practice their religion and their choice to wear or not wear a hijab, along with their right to education. Disciplining these women, on their choice of clothing and prohibiting them from wearing a hijab reflects the patriarchal and Islamophobic tendencies of the state and its institutions. "If the choice to not wear a hijab is endorsed in the light of empowerment, one cannot exhibit condescending attitude against one's choice of wearing a hijab," the statement read.

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The JNU students pointed out that the attempt of these Muslim students to register their protest is "being criminalized as part of a theory of larger conspiracy". "In the face of this toxic display of masculinity, the bigotry and Islamophobia and against the sustained attacks on the rights and safety of Muslim women, we the women students of JNU, extend our unflinching and unconditional solidarity and support to these brave Muslim women students in Karnataka and the choice of Muslim women to wear a hijab," the statement read.

As protests for and against wearing of the headscarf by Muslim women students in class-rooms intensified in different parts of Karnataka and turned violent in some places, the Karnataka government on Tuesday declared a holiday to all high schools and colleges in the state for three days.