Protest against hijab row has reached Jharkhand with women from the minority community staging a protest at a ground in the industrial hub of Jamshedpur after Friday’s namaj.

Over 50 women clad in hijabs carried placards decrying the Karnataka government order banning the use of hijabs in educational institutions. The protest was organised under the banner of All India Minority Social Welfare Front (AIMSWF) and held on Friday afternoon.

“The BJP-led Karnataka government has issued a tyrannical order prohibiting Muslim women from coming to educational institutions wearing hijabs. It is our constitutional right as it is an integral part of our religious tradition and has been continuing for decades. It smacks of a bigger conspiracy against us. We are here to express our solidarity with our sisters in Karnataka and we are ready for any sacrifice,” said Jeba Qadri, a resident of Mango in Jamshedpur who had attended the protest.

Significantly, the hijab controversy first erupted in December last year after students of a government college in Karnataka’s Udupi started coming to the campus wearing hijabs. Soon after, other students started wearing saffron scarves to college as a mark of protest against headscarves.

This led to protests in parts of Karnataka, some of which reportedly took a violent turn after the Karnataka government banned use of hijabs in colleges and schools. The matter is pending in Karnataka High Court and the next hearing is on Monday.

The protesters included over 100 men. JMM leader Babar Khan, who is the general secretary of AIMSF, later in the day burnt an effigy of Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Somappa Bommai near the Ambagan Ground in Sakchi in Jamshedpur.

A delegation also went to the East Singhbhum district collectorate and submitted a memorandum addressed to President of India Ram Nath Kovind lodging their protest against the hijab controversy and the decision of the Karnataka government as an attack on the Indian Constitution that provides religious rights and freedom for every community.

“This is an attack by the RSS against Muslims in India through the BJP government in Karnataka. We have sought the intervention of the President on the issue,” said Babar Khan.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, students had also protested against the hijab row in Karnataka at the state-owned Doranda College in Ranchi and were pacified by the police after college authorities asked the students to stage the protest outside the college campus.

On Thursday, a Ranchi-based social outfit, Anjum Ibrar Foundation announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for Muskan Khan, the “brave girl from Karnataka who did not budge and stood her ground against a group of students protesting against her wearing hijabs in college,” said Ibrar Ahmed, president of the foundation.

During a function organised under the banner of Sajha Manch Jharkhand (Samajh), the foundation announced that every year, it would provide the Fatima Shiekh Savitri Bhai Phule award to a woman playing an active role in any field and named Muskan as its recipient for this year.

Ibrar Ahmed said “wearing clothes be it hijab or chunni is the personal choice of the woman as per her traditions and no authority should interfere into it and blamed vested interested people of stoking communal sentiments over the issue.”