AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi   |  Photo Credit: ANI
Bengaluru: As the Karnataka hijab row continues, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday voiced support for Muskaan Khan – the burka-clad student who had gone viral as she chanted ‘Allah hu Akbar’ in response to a crowd raising slogans of “Jai Sri Ram” on a college premise.
“Spoke to Muskan and her family on call. Prayed for her to remain steadfast in her commitment to education while also exercising her freedom of religion and choice. I conveyed that her act of fearlessness has become a source of courage for us all,” the Hyderabad MP added.
Owaisi also said that he had appreciated her parents “for her unapologetic upbringing”, noting that he had met her father at a function during his campaign in 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections for JD(S).
The PES College student had been heckled by the crowd outside her college premises in Mandya district for wearing a burka. As the clip went viral, she told reporters that the crowd had demanded that she (and her friends) enter without the burka, or return home.
“I questioned them why I should go back to my house and not enter the college premises. Some of them came close to my ears and shouted ‘Jai Sriram’. They followed me and shouted that I must take out the burka but I stood my ground,” she had recounted.
A day earlier, the AIMIM chief had urged Muslim women to “stand against the hatred and bullets being fired” at them. “When Asaduddin Owaisi can go into the Parliament with beard and cap, why can’t Muslim girls go to school wearing hijab or niqaab?” he had asked during an event in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
“What do you have to do with what our Muslim women wear? If you don’t want to wear anything please go ahead. SC stated in a judgement that the right to choice is a Fundamental Right. People have the choice to wear what they want,” Owaisi added.