The Nationalist Congress Party’s Pune unit has been holding protests over the Karnataka hijab controversy, for some unknown reasons. Despite Maharashtra Home Minister and senior NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil saying that the controversy has nothing to do with Maharashtra, the party’s Pune unit had held demonstrations in support of the hijab and burqa in the city.
In a recently organised protest in Pune, Maharashtra, one Burqa-clad woman was seen asking people to set Prime Minister Modi on fire for ‘bringing a law to cause inconvenience’. She even claimed that she is distressed because all schools and colleges in Karnataka have been closed for 4 days.
पुण्यात @NCPspeaks चे आंदोलन चालू आहे. राष्ट्रवादीच्या महिला नेत्या @Rupalispeak सोबत असताना ती मुस्लिम महिला म्हणत आहे की “मोदी को अंगार लगा के सिल्गा डालो” असं म्हणत मोदींना जीवे मारण्याची धमकी दिली जात आहे.@PuneCityPolice यावर काय कारवाई करतील? pic.twitter.com/URLXZGlrHv
— Piyush Jagdish Kashyap (@TheRSS_Piyussh) February 10, 2022
“Modi ko angar laga ke sulga do (set Modi on fire),” the Burqa-clad protestor can be heard saying while a woman NCP leader was standing right beside her.
The protest against the ongoing Hijab controversy was organised by Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Pune, Maharashtra, on Thursday. The Muslim woman made threatening statements in the presence of several other NCP party workers who remained mute spectators.
Meanwhile, a complaint has been lodged against the individuals who made threatening remarks against PM Narendra Modi. The BJP leaders have filed a complaint with the Cyber Police Station urging them to take against the protestors.
Burqa-clad woman heckles teacher, shouts “bullsh*t”
The brazenness of Burqa-clad protestors has been on display since the start of the Hijab protests in Karnataka. On Thursday, a video had gone viral in which a Burqa-clad woman was seen heckling her teacher after the latter asked her not to create disturbance outside the college premises.
In the video, a Muslim student protesting against the dress code outside the MGM college in Udupi was seen arguing with a teacher of the same college. The teachers had urged the Muslim girl students not to disturb the students inside the campus.
The Muslim girls are now squatting outside the MGM college as a mark of protest against the state government for not allowing them to wear Islamic attire inside secular educational campuses. As teachers requested the Muslim girl students to make way for students, a Burqa-clad woman heckled the teacher and abused her by saying, “Bullsh*t, I won’t.”
Hindu students, civil society step up protests against hijab on campus
Amidst the ongoing Hijab controversy cooling down, the civil society members, the Hindu groups, have now stepped up their protest against the provocative act of Muslim students to violate the existing uniform guidelines enforced by the state government.
The Muslim students, backed by the PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, have been disobeying the uniform dress code rules and insisting on wearing the Islamic attire of burqa inside the classroom. The college authorities in Udupi have been pleading the girls to follow the dress code and start attending classes, but the Muslim students have made it clear that hijab is the priority for them, and the college should bend to their demands.
In response, Hindu students have also launched a protest, saying that if Muslim girls are allowed an exemption to the dress code on religious grounds, they will be coming to college with saffron shawls too.
Meanwhile, the protest of some Muslim girls against the uniform regulations in educational institutions had even taken a dangerous turn in Karnataka after several incidents of stone-pelting and clashes. The government has declared the closure of the schools and colleges as the High Court hears the petition filed by a Muslim girl.
On Thursday, the Karnataka High Court passed an interim order in the Hijab ban matter asking the students not to wear anything religious in nature till the disposal of the case. It also asked the state government to open the schools and colleges and not allow students with any religious attire.
