As the sun set on the coastal town of Udupi in Karnataka on Tuesday, 17-year-old Aliya Assadi sat on the steps of Jamia Masjid, her mind racing in different directions. She wants to be a wildlife photographer. She’s worried about her board exams. But her thoughts keep circling back to the violence and anger over her choice of attire: the hijab.
Assadi is one of six students of the Government Pre-University College for Girls, Udupi, who has been barred from the classroom since December 27, 2021, for wearing a hijab. “I have been wearing a hijab since I was six years old. It is religious and it gives me a sense of security and confidence. I am uncomfortable removing it. What I don’t understand is why I am being forced to choose between the hijab and education,” she says.
Her fight for the right to wear the religious headscarf, in addition to the prescribed uniform, to school, which she has taken to the Karnataka High Court, has exploded into what is called the “hijab controversy” in Karnataka. This has spread like wildfire, further exposing the communal divide and the growing lack of trust between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
