Bangladeshi protested Friday in the capital, Dhaka, against a ban on wearing the Muslim hijab in the state of Karnataka in India.
Demonstrators demanded that the Indian government of Narendra Modi immediately take action against the ban on the headscarf to ensure communal harmony and peace in the region.
The protest followed a Karnataka High Court ruling last week that blocked students from wearing religious garments until a decision is made on the matter.
Muslim students were denied entry to several pre-university colleges Wednesday in Karnataka as they were asked to remove hijabs before being allowed to go to classes.
“The Modi government is plotting to make India a state of zero Islam in the guise of establishing Hindutva,” said Mufti Syed Muhammad Faizul Karim, leader of a Bangladeshi Islamic party of Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
He condemned the ban on hijabs at educational institutions in India and said the blood of Muslims was shed mostly during the independent movement in India.
“Through the anti-Islamic acts, India, in fact, is doing disastrous consequences against itself,” he said, while addressing demonstrators in front of the country’s national Baitul Mokarram mosque.
Demonstrators also alleged that in the name of putting an embargo on the hijab, India is plotting to deprive Muslim females of an education in the Hindu majority state.
“Muslims in India are victims of discriminatory politics,” Mohammad Hamdan, a demonstrator told Anadolu Agency.
Noted Islamic scholar Maolana Imtiaz Alam called on the Muslim world, including the Bangladeshi government to raise their voices against the anti-Islamic policy of the Modi government.
A group of Muslim women filed petitions against the order banning the hijab on college premises.
The hijab row erupted after a college in Karnataka told students to take off their headscarves inside the classroom.
The issue has turned into an international hot topic,
Muskan Khan boldly retaliated to be ban order by uttering “Allahu Akbar,” or God is the greatest, while a group of extreme Hindu far-right mob heckled her at a college on Feb. 8.
Video of the encounter when viral on social media.
