Mangalore: The protest regarding the ban of head scarves by the Muslim students of Sri Ramakunjeshwara First Grade College, Ramakunja, near Uppinangady of Puttur taluk continued even for the fifth day. The students proceeded to the silent protest by tying bands across their mouths to express their sheer anger and surprise on the silence of the Muslim leaders and also the Minority Commission on the matter.

The students who started the protest on Thursday with howls and shouts of slogans, switched to the silent protest by banding their mouths and sitting outside the college gates.





Speaking to the press persons, the students said that they would continue to protest until they were allowed to wear the scarves to the class rooms and will boycott the classes till then. The students said that covering the heads was their basic right and also a religious right. And holding a rule against this was an attack on the religious right.

The students also said that the entire Muslim community should stand against such an unlawful act and jointly protest against the college authorities. Replying to the question as to why they have put bands across their mouths, they said, -The authorities have shown deaf ear to our voices and demands, when there is no one to listen to our voices, why do we even talk? So we have put the bands across our faces and decided to carry on the protest silently-.

The college authorities have asked the Muslim students to take back their protests and start attending the classes, but the students made it clear that they would not remove the scarves from their heads at any cost. The students are planning to visit the Deputy Commissioner and Vice Chancellor of College at Mangalore and present the memorandum requesting to help them in this context.

The Students Islamic Organization Mangalore has expressed the anger over the situation and strongly condemned the act. Speaking to Sahilonline one of the members said that in a secular country like India, we are free to pursue education according to our religious rights. He expressed his surprise over the situation as to why every coming year Muslim students are asked to remove their head scarves and why the Muslims in the coastal area are silent over this?

The local Muslims feel that Muslim scholars and the leaders should work hand in hand to solve such matters concerning the community and should find a way to put an end to such issues. It is surprising that even after so many incidents of same nature occurring in the state, the Muslim organizations are not turning their head towards finding the solution. They also alleged that, the Chairman of Minority Commission of the state is busy in following the footsteps of BJP and RSS instead of supporting these students.