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Dive deeper into the week’s biggest stories from the Middle East and around the world with The National’s foreign desk. Nuances are often missed in day-to-day headlines. We go Beyond the Headlines by bringing together the voices of experts and those living the news to provide a clearer picture of the region’s shifting political and social landscape.
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Thursday Mar 10, 2022
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
A row has been brewing for months in the southern Indian state of Karnataka after dozens of Muslim students were barred by authorities from entering colleges because they were wearing the hijab.
Widespread protests and counter protests by students attending local colleges and pre-universities have erupted across the southern coastal state, raising tensions in the communally sensitive region.
Female Muslim students have lobbied for days outside the gates of their colleges, demanding the administration let them attend classes wearing the hijab.
Their protests have been met by counter-demonstrations by students linked to right-wing Hindu groups. They wear saffron scarves - a colour used by hardline nationalists - and march in the streets chanting "Jai Shri Ram", a traditional Hindu salutation that has in recent years become a war cry.
In this week's Beyond the Headlines, Nilanjana Gupta looks at why the hijab is the source of more division than ever in India.