Hindu students go saffron to protest against burqa-clad women

Controversy comes in the wake of Mangalore college banning first-year students from wearing the hijab or burqa

As Europe continues to grapple with controversies over the burqa, a new debate is brewing in India over Muslim women sporting hijabs and burkas on campuses.



Hindu students in the southern Indian state of Karnataka have started wearing saffron-colored scarves in classrooms to protest against Muslim women wearing hijabs and burkas on university grounds.



It all started last week, after a pharmacy college in the southern city of Mangalore banned first-year students from wearing the hijab or burqa. Men were also forbidden from sporting long beards on campus.

The new guidelines led to protests by Muslim student groups who argued that the Indian Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion. Groups of burka-clad students shouted slogans at the gates of the college, carrying placards reading, “We are not silent, we want justice,” reports The Washington Post.



The college lifted the ban following the protests, leaving many Hindu students infuriated. Thereafter, Hindu students started sporting saffron scarves in protest.

This article originally appeared on RT.