'You don't become Hindu by wearing saffron'

'The boys allowed themselves to become tools of politicians.'
'That age is a dangerous one, children or young men and women can easily be moulded to hate.'

There have been many controversies, and violence associated with such controversies in the recent past.

The recent controversy has also a name, the hijab controversy that started on a pre university college campus in Udupi and has been rocking other campuses in coastal Karnataka.

Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novelist Shashi Deshpande -- whose father was the legendary Kannada novelist and playwright Adya Rangacharya -- tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier about what is happening in her home state.

The concluding segment of a two-part interview:

• Part I: 'Why is the hijab being singled out?'

The video of a Muslim girl going to college on her scooter and bravely facing aggressive Hindu students has become a talking point.
Do you see her as a symbol of a modern Muslim girl, or a girl trapped in the restrictions imposed by her religion?

What kind of Hinduism is it to harass a lone girl like that?

You don't become a Hindu by wearing a saffron scarf or a pheta.

Hinduism is tolerant, compassionate and gentle.

Do you feel the BJP has succeeded in turning the Hindus to Muslim-haters?

Thankfully not all. Only those who are made to think that hating someone is being patriotic.

Is it Islamophobia or pure hatred towards the minorities that we see in society now?

I think it is hatred for 'the other' with which people can be incited to feelings and acts they won't have otherwise.

The Muslims have become the 'other'.

Do you feel the BJP is using students as pawns in achieving their political agenda?

Absolutely. Why only the BJP, all political parties have done it, and will continue doing it.

And where did those scarves and turbans come from? Surely, someone had supplied them.

The boys had allowed themselves to become tools of politicians.

That age is a dangerous one, children or young men and women can easily be moulded to hate.

I feel like telling all the girls fighting to wear the hijab and all those against it to just look at Afghanistan. Look at how the Taliban has been attacking the women, how they use religion to do so.

We already have male politicians speaking against girls and women who dress well and are independent.

How long will it take for them if they get total power to push women back into ghunghats and the home?

As a progressive writer, how much does it pain you to see the happenings in Karnataka?

I am horrified, I am immensely saddened. This is not who we are or what we are.

And let's forget labels like 'progressive' or 'liberal'. I would call it being a sensible reasonable human.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com