By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: The Burqa ban in Mangalore college moves to new developments as a meeting of college principals is to be convened to decide on the matter. The Director of Collegiate Education in Karnataka has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district to convene a meeting of the principals of colleges in Mangalore district. The meeting will be held in the presence of the Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University and should aim to arrive at a consensus on the issue of students wearing burqa on the campus.
The DCE has reportedly also asked the Deputy Commissioner and VC to submit a list of suggestions to the state government after the meeting. The state government would decide on the matter then.
The burqa again surged into the mainstream when the Sri Venkataramana Swamy College in Bantwal banned a Muslim student from attending classes wearing a burqa. Ayesha Ashmin, a I B.Com student, was reportedly asked not to attend classes wearing a burqa. Then she began to come to the campus wearing a head-scarf, without a burqa. The college authorities banned that too, as per media reports. She has not been attending classes for the last 12 days due to the ban on head-scarf. She has reportedly met the Vice Chancellor KM Kaveriappa and Deputy Commissioner V Ponnuraj seeking their intervention in the matter.
The girl was reportedly not told at the time of admissions that the burqa or head-scarf won’t be permitted on the campus. Even though she tried to get admissions in some other college, admissions had been closed there. The girl now remains at home, without being able to attend classes. The college authorities, however, maintain that she can attend classes if she abides by the rules of the college. The Principal of the college Seetharama Mayya is reported to have said to the ANI, “They can come with their dress, with their burqa in the college and they can keep it in the ladies room and while going back they can wear it again. That’s our tradition. That has been happening for several years.”
The matter has brought in grave protests from the public. The Dakshina Kannada Students Federation, which includes the Students Federation of India, Students Islamic Organisation, National Students Union, Talent Research Foundation and Girls Islamic Organisation, condemned the action of the college. The SIO and GIO and organised a protest yesterday in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The NSU and SFI too were to participate in the protest but withdrew at the last moment quoting ideological differences with the protestors. The leaders of the SIO and GIO said that the purdah system was part of the Islamic culture.
The All India Revolutionary Students’ Organisation took out a procession and staged a dharna at Raichur against the ban on burqa in the SVS College. The organisation maintained that the move of the college authorities would destroy communal harmony among the students. It also submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Governor, to the Deputy Commissioner.
However, the college maintained in a press release last day that the college was not against any community, that it has always kept its secular nature. There are reports that the college was forced to put a ban on burqa due to the threats of certain organisations, though the college did not name any.