By Maitreyee Boruah, IANS,
Mangalore (Karnataka) : As 18-year-old Ayesha Ashmin begins classes at a new college near here after a raging controversy over her Islamic headscarf – her last college would not let her wear it – all she wants is a peaceful life.
“I am happy to restart my studies, which got disrupted for almost a month. The entire headscarf row in my earlier college was a testing time for me and my family,” Ayesha told IANS at her home here.
Ayesha was in the centre of a controversy about a month ago when she protested the Sri Venkataramana Swamy (SVS) Degree College authorities’ refusal to allow her to wear a headscarf. She has left the college even though it eventually agreed to a compromise arrangement.
“However, I am satisfied with the compromise agreement worked out by the college to allow girl students to wear headscarves and attend classes. With the entire episode coming to an end, now I want to lead a peaceful life,” added the first-year Bachelor of Commerce student, who joined her new college Monday.
Echoing Ayesha, her father B. Mohammed said: “Thanks to Allah, the controversy has ended. Now, we want to lead a normal and peaceful life.”
Mohammed, who runs a small business, said Ayesha wanted to continue her studies in SVS College, but her mother was apprehensive about her safety.
“So, we have admitted her to Hira Women’s College. The college is at Babukatte, around 30 km from here,” added Mohammed.
The entire controversy in SVS College, Bantwal, near here started after Ayesha was threatened by members of the college students union who first asked her to stop wearing a burqa in college, to which she agreed. When Ayesha took to donning a headscarf instead, they again asked her to stop doing so. The union is associated with radical Hindu outfits.
Students linked to such outfits have been campaigning for a ban on burqa and headscarf in campuses across Dakshina Kannada district. Mangalore is the main town in the communally sensitive district, about 350 km from Karnataka capital Bangalore.
The situation turned tense when Ayesha refused to follow the diktat of the students union. Thereafter, she was summoned by the college administrators and asked to stop wearing the headscarf. Again Ayesha and Azramma – the only other Muslim student who wore a headscarf on campus – refused.
“Wearing a headscarf is our religious belief and we’re comfortable wearing it. But as we opposed the college rule, our parents were summoned by the college authorities,” recalled Ayesha.
In a meeting Aug 7, the girls and their parents were told by the college authorities that if they refused to comply with the ban, they would be suspended and subsequently removed from the college.
While Azramma later agreed to follow the college rule, Ayesha did not relent and stopped going to college.
However, a few days back, the management of SVS college decided to grant permission to girl students to use the dupatta as a headscarf.
The decision was taken at a meeting with Mangalore University Vice Chancellor K.M. Kaveriappa that was attended by local legislators and administrators of various colleges.
Earlier this year, members of fringe radical Hindu outfits had beaten male Muslim students in Dakshina Kannada district for socialising with female students who happened to be Hindu. They even assaulted a group of women for going to a pub.
“People are concerned about the rise of this so-called moral police brigade in the entire district. Women fear to venture out in the evenings. Boys and girls are afraid of talking in public. The fear psychosis is palpable and that is destroying the very fabric of Mangalore and other smaller towns here,” senior journalist B.V. Seetharam told IANS.
(Maitreyee Boruah can be contacted at [email protected])