Schools shut in Indian state as protests grow over headscarf ban | India

Authorities in southern India have ordered colleges to close as protests intensified over a ban on Islamic headscarves that has outraged Muslim college students.

The standoff in Karnataka state has galvanised fears among the many minority group about what they are saying is growing persecution underneath the Hindu nationalist authorities of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

In contemporary demonstrations on Tuesday, officers fired teargas to disperse a crowd at one government-run campus, whereas a heavy police presence was seen at colleges in close by cities.

The chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, appealed for calm after asserting that each one excessive colleges within the state can be closed for 3 days. “I attraction to all the scholars, academics and administration of faculties and schools … to take care of peace and concord,” he mentioned.

College students at a government-run highschool had been informed final month to not put on hijabs, an edict that quickly unfold to different instructional establishments within the state.

Confrontations on campuses have escalated between Muslim college students condemning the ban and Hindu pupils who say their classmates have disrupted their training.

“Rapidly they’re saying you aren’t alleged to put on hijab … why did they begin now?” mentioned Ayesha, a teenage scholar on the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Faculty within the coastal metropolis of Udupi.

Ayesha mentioned a trainer had turned her away from her chemistry examination for sporting the garment. “We’re not towards any faith. We’re not protesting towards anybody. It’s only for our personal rights,” she informed AFP.

One other scholar, Amrut, standing close by amongst a crowd of Hindu boys sporting saffron shawls, mentioned the dispute had unfairly prevented him from attending class. “We had … requested them to not put on hijab,” he mentioned. “However at this time they’re sporting hijab. They aren’t permitting us to go inside.”

Karnataka’s prime court docket started listening to a petition difficult the legality of the ban on Tuesday however adjourned earlier than issuing a ruling.

Modi’s rightwing Bharatiya Janata occasion governs Karnataka state, and a number of other outstanding members have thrown their assist behind the ban.

Critics say Modi’s election in 2014 emboldened hardline teams who see India as a Hindu nation and are searching for to undermine its secular foundations on the expense of its 200 million-strong minority Muslim group.