‘DC should conduct high-level probe into hijab controversy’

Deputy Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and Mangalore MLA U T Khader has urged the DC of Dakshina Kannada to conduct a high-level probe into the hijab controversy which led to confrontation among the students at Dr P Dayananda Pai-P Satisha Pai Government First Grade College at Car Street in Mangaluru on Friday.

The probe should bring out the truth on who is provoking the students. The college principal should initiate action against those students who allegedly confronted girl students wearing hijab at the college, he said.

Students should attend college to pursue their studies and not engage in any conflict. Any issues pertaining to rules and regulations should be discussed and decided by the college principal and management and not by students, he added.

“Why did the district administration remain silent when students entered into a confrontation over the hijab controversy in the college?” he asked.

“We want the students to maintain harmony in the college/school campuses,” he said.

The district administration and police should take strict action against those who instil fear and hate among the people, he added.

The deputy leader of Congress Legislature Party also alleged that the Centre failed in evacuating the stranded students in Ukraine.

The government completely failed in its diplomacy and external affairs policy, said Khader.

He urged the state government to return the academic fees paid by Naveen, the MBBS student from Haveri, who was killed during Russian shelling at Kharkiv in war-torn Ukraine.

Holiday declared

Following the hijab controversy that erupted at Dr P Dayananda Pai-P Satisha Pai Government First Grade College at Car Street in Mangaluru, a holiday has been declared for the students from Saturday.

College principal Rajashekar Hebbar told DH that online classes will be conducted for the students for the time being. Even the ongoing internal exams have been postponed on the advice of the deputy commissioner, he said.