Hijab Row: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the face of Congress for the 2022 UP Parliamentary Elections (File)
New Delhi:
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday voiced support for college students in Karnataka who have been banned from wearing headscarves in class, tweeting that the choice of clothes to wear is their own and This right is protected by the Constitution.
“Even if it’s a bikini, ah vampire, a pair of jeans, or a headscarf, women have the right to decide what they want to wear. This right is guaranteed by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women,” tweeted Mrs Gandhi Vadra with the hashtag #ladkihoonladsaktihoon.
Congressman Rahul Gandhi responded to his sister’s tweet with a ‘thumbs up’ emoji.
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– Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 9, 2022
#ladkihoonladsaktihoon is the war cry of the Parliament for the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Council elections starting tomorrow. The party has made women’s rights and empowerment one of the key issues ahead of the election, with Gandhi Vadra leading that responsibility.
Last week, Gandhi also voiced support for students’ right to wear headscarves in classrooms, tweeting: “By letting students’ headscarves interfere with their education, we are being robbed the future of the daughters of India”, Ma Saraswati for knowledge for all. She makes no distinction. “
Shocking protests against the right of university students to wear headscarves in classrooms have broken out in several towns in Karnataka’s Udupi, Chikkamgaluru and Mandya districts in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, disturbing footage emerged of a young girl being waved by a frenzied mob in Mandya and shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The girl fought back, responding with shouts of ‘Allah hu Akbar’ before being escorted out of the dangerous situation.
The young girl, Muskan, told NDTV: “I wasn’t worried at all. When I went to university, they wouldn’t let me just because I was wearing a coat. They were ruining our education.”
In two towns in Davengere County, mass gatherings were banned after protesters wearing hijabs and those wearing saffron shawls hurled stones at each other.
In the Shivamogga district, boys wearing saffron scarves cheered as one of them raised a saffron flag.
In Kundapur taluk on Monday, two men were arrested for carrying knives during a student protest.
The controversy erupted in December after six students at a college in Udupi accused them of not wearing a headscarf in class. Their protests sparked a wave of agitated protests led by crowds of students and others brandishing saffron scarves and shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The protests have also sparked a political melee with disturbing public resonances in the Southern and other states; Similar incidents have been reported from Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry.
Karnataka’s BJP government is mostly silent while it awaits a Supreme Court ruling on a petition by five women questioning restrictions on the wearing of headscarves.
The court, which began hearing the matter yesterday, will resume arguments this afternoon.
Prime Minister Basavaraj Bommai yesterday ordered all schools and colleges to close for three days.
