Amid a raging controversy over Muslim women wearing hijabs in pre-university colleges in India’s Karnataka state, prominent Muslim leader and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said that one day, a hijab-wearing girl will become the country's prime minister.
Addressing a public rally on Sunday, he said: "If a girl decides to wear hijab and asks her parents to do so and when her parents allow her to wear it, who can stop her from wearing it? We will see it, inshallah".
“The girls will wear hijab, will wear niqab (veils) and go to colleges and become doctors, collectors, SDMs (sub-divisional magistrates) and businesswomen", Owaisi was heard saying in in Hindi as the parlamentarian uploaded a video from the rally on his Twitter page.
"All of you, keep it in mind. Perhaps when I am not alive, a girl wearing a hijab will become the prime minister of this country one day”, he added.
The row over hijabs started in Karnataka in January, when a few Muslim students at a government pre-university college in the Udupi district, attending classes in headscarves, were asked to leave the campus.
The Muslim students started protesting against the move and it spread to other parts of the state, as well as the country.
Following the demonstration, Hindu students also started wearing saffron shawls as a mark of protest against their Hijab-clad classmates.
With the protests turning violent at some places earlier this week, the state government on 8 February declared a three-day closure holiday for the institutions. However, schools for students through class 10 reopened from Monday, 14 February, while colleges will remain shut until 16 February.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and French footballer Paul Pogba have also spoken in support of Muslim students who were refused entry into pre-university schools for wearing a hijab.