On Saturday, a fight broke out between a group of burqa clad protestors and the Congress party workers in Kalyan, Maharashtra. The incident occurred during a protest organised by the Congress party against the BJP-led Karnataka government over the ongoing hijab controversy in the state.
According to the reports, a group of burqa-clad Muslim protestors barged into the Congress party’s protests at Shivaji Chowk, Kalyan, on Saturday. The group of Muslim women picked up a fight with the Congress party workers, who were protesting against the Karnataka government for asking the students to follow the uniform guidelines.
Sanjay Gunjal, the Deputy Commissioner of Kalyan, said, “There was a clash between two groups of women during the protest. The clash was related to the participation in the protest that was organised by the Congress party. The situation was under control. There is no complaint received or case registered in this matter so far.”
The video of the brawl between the Congress party workers and the Burqa-clad protestors has gone viral on social media. In the video, it was seen that the Burqa-clad protestors were seen heckling and clashing with the Congress party workers during the protest.
A clash broke out between some #Muslim women and #Congress workers during a protest over the hijab row in #Thane‘s Kalyan. The incident took place in the afternoon when the women’s wing of #Congress organised a protest against the #Karnataka govt and the #BJP over the #HijabRow pic.twitter.com/SA54kYVerR
— TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) February 12, 2022
Kanchan Kulkarni, the President of the Congress party’s women’s wing, claimed that their protest was completely in support of women, and they were representing the Congress party. She said some groups of women in hijab initially participated in the protest; however, they started blaming the party workers after seeing Congress party’s banners.
“These women were not identified by any of us as they randomly participated in the protest. Our women party workers, however, managed to control the situation without escalating it,” the Congress leader said.
The protests come amidst the ongoing row over hijab on the high school and college campuses in certain parts of Karnataka, which has resulted in violent incidents across the state. The matter is now sub-judice in the Karnataka High Court.