Udupi: The Principal of an Udupi pre-university government women's college on Friday said all students followed a dress code and no one wore a hijab inside the classroom during teaching hours for 37 years.
It was only on December 31 last year that six out of 12 students decided to launch a protest after the Campus Front of India (CFI), affiliated to the People's Front of India, visited the college and asked why Principal Rudre Gowda permitted some students to participate in an ABVP protest.
"For 37 years, the students were following the dress code on the college campus. The protesting students who were pressured to wear hijab were attending classes without hijab. We have not banned hijab in college campuses but banned them only during teaching hours," Gowda told a section of reporters here.
"The atmosphere vitiated on December 31 when CFI members visited the college and met me. They asked why the college allowed Muslim students to participate in an ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad) protest. After this, I was surprised to note that the same students started to wear hijab during teaching hours in the classroom. We told them to follow the dress code which they have been doing for years," he said.
By that time, the CFI brainwashed these students, Gowda alleged. He said the parents of protesting students were innocent as they do not know about the ramifications of the hijab controversy. "As of now, only two students out of six are adamant on hijab. I request them to follow the dress code and attend classes," he added.
Earlier, Education Minister B C Nagesh and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed that the protesting students and their parents had given an undertaking that they will follow the dress code.
On Thursday, a three-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court refused to grant interim relief to the petitioners who are seeking admission into the classroom wearing hijab and ruled that no religious attire should be allowed on college campuses pending its order. (UNI)
