Bangalore, India’s tech capital, prohibited rallies around schools and other educational institutions for two weeks on Wednesday, the same day that high schools in Karnataka state were closed as a dispute over an Islamic headscarf ban escalated.
Muslim students and community members have staged protests across the southern state since a government-run high school last month issued a directive prohibiting girls from wearing hijabs in class, an order that quickly spread to other institutions, sparking counter-demonstrations.
As she arrives at PES College in Mandya, a video of a hijab-wearing student being pursued by Hindu men yelling “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram) and shouting “Allah-u Akbar” in response has gone viral.
Many members of India’s 200 million Muslim minority perceive the new standoff as part of a bigger pattern of persecution under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.
