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In the communally polarised Udupi district of coastal Karnataka, protests by some girl students from the Muslim community for the right to wear a hijab to classes at Government Pre-University College is being seen by many in the region as part of the struggle for political ascendancy by Campus Front of India (CFI), the students' wing of Popular Front of India, a Muslim social organisation.
While both the protesting students and CFI have denied any larger political conspiracy behind the stir, political leaders in Udupi, including the local BJP MLA and leaders of Muslim organisations, see a link between the controversy and the growing political heft of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in the region.
In a way, keeping the issue, and the...