The rule book of the Bhandarkar private college only allows scarves inside the campus, and it should match the colour of the uniform. The rule book does not mention hijab/burqa.
When the hijab/burqa controversy is spilling over in Karnataka, propaganda website AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair spread the fake news saying the Bhandarkar private college rule book allows hijab/burqa. The rule book only allows ‘scarf’ inside the campus, and the colour of the scarf should match the colour of the uniform.
A government school in Karnataka’s Udupi did not allow students to attend classes in Hijab, which is being followed by many schools and colleges.
The Nehru family scion and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday (February 5) joined the debate about Hijab in schools, saying female students in Hijab should be allowed inside classrooms. He posted on Twitter, “By letting students’ Hijab come in the way of their education, we are robbing the future of the daughters of India. Ma Saraswati gives knowledge to all. She doesn’t differentiate.”
Former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah also demanded that school students in Hijab be allowed in classrooms.
In a series of tweets, he criticised the BJP-led Karnataka government for not allowing girls in Hijab to enter classrooms. “Constitution has given the right to practice any religion which means one can wear any clothes according to their religion. Prohibiting ‘Hijab’ wearing students from entering school is a violation of fundamental rights. Principal of Kundapura Govt college has not allowed students wearing Hijab to enter into college. This is not just inhuman but also violation of constitutional rights. He should be suspended immediately,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Muslim girls in Karnataka moved a petition in the Karnataka High Court for their right to wear Hijab inside the school premises. The matter is listed for February 8.
Mohammed Zubair is a habitual offender when it comes to spreading fake news. He tried to pass off a conversion video from Bangladesh as an exorcism video in the first week of January. Quoting an India Today fact-check, he tried to set the narrative that the video from Bangladesh was not about conversion but an exorcism. The moot question remained why Mohammed Zubair himself did not fact-check the video?
In June last year, one Abdul Samad Saifi was thrashed in Ghaziabad in a personal fight. Zubair circulated a muted video of the incident claiming Saifi was thrashed for not chanting Jai Shri Ram. He was booked by the UP Police in the case.
After Friday prayers on January 28, Mohammed Zubair posted fake news on Twitter to defend former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Zubair posted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) for using the old name of Prayagraj, and the BJP itself used the old name of the city when it declared its candidates from Allahabad. What Zubair did not tell in the tweet is that the Samajwadi Party had named districts Allahabad and Faizabad in its official candidates list, whereas the BJP list has the name of the constituency Allahabad West and Allahabad South.
Allahabad is now changed to Prayagraj and has 12 assembly constituencies, including Allahabad West, Allahabad North and Allahabad South as the constituency names can be changed only by the Election Commission of India.
