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Whether it is a bikini, a ghoonghat, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday amid the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka.
She asserted that this right is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Incidents of stone-pelting and use of force by police were reported in Karnataka on Tuesday as the hijab ban row escalated and protests by students spread to more colleges, prompting the state government to declare a three-day holiday for all educational institutions.
"Whether it is a bikini, a ghoonghat, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear," Vadra tweeted.
"This right is GUARANTEED by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women," she said using the hashtag 'ladkihoonladsaktihoon'.
Asked about the controversy at a press conference in Lucknow, the Congress general secretary reiterated that a woman is free to choose what she wants to wear.
"Have I started the debate on the hijab? A woman has the right to choose whether she wants to wear a bikini, a hijab, a ghoonghat, a saree or a pair of jeans. There is no politics in this and also there should be no politics. No one has any right to tell a woman what she can wear," she said.
Vadra further asked a journalist, "Should I ask you to take off your scarf?"
The journalist responded that he is at a press conference and not in a school.
Replying to this, Vadra said, "I have no right to ask you to take off your scarf. The same way, no one has the right to decide what a woman will wear."
The hijab controversy first erupted in January at a government PU College in Udupi, where six students who attended classes wearing the headscarf in violation of the stipulated dress code were asked to leave the campus.
The row has spread to different parts of the state with Hindu students responding by turning up in saffron shawls.
Such saffron-clad students are also being barred from entering classes.
The row has also taken a political colour as the ruling BJP has stood strongly in support of the uniform-related rules being enforced by educational institutions, calling the headscarf, a religious symbol, while the opposition Congress has come out in support of Muslim girls.