Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat has sought an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the hijab row.
Addressing presspersons in Udupi on Friday, the MLA said that he has written a letter to Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asking them for instituting an NIA investigation.
The MLA said: ‘‘We thought that only the Campus Front of India (CFI) was behind this controversy, but it is clear now that the Congress is also backing this.”
Continuing to target the CFI, Mr. Bhat said that it has infused hatred in the minds of the six students who are demanding that they be allowed to wear hijab in classrooms. “This is not a plot spun by these students,” he said and added that outsiders not related to Udupi, including some workers from Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, have arrived in Udupi to further the matter.
“It is not a simple matter. I am sure that it is a well-stragetised plot. I fear a threat to the nation from this hijab row now. Hence, NIA investigation is needed,” he said.
The MLA, who is also the chairman of the College Development Committee of the Government Pre University College for Girls, Udupi, said that a conspiracy was hatched long ago when the six students of the college opened Twitter accounts in October and November. “Innocent girls are being brainwashed. They have tweeted CFI president’s contents on their accounts. The content is anti-national in nature,” he said.
Mr. Bhat said that Muslim leaders affiliated to Udupi District Muslim Okkuta never did fuel the matter that has now reached national and international levels. “External forces” are provoking and fuelling the controversy, he said.
