Journalist Rubika Liyaquat Trends For Tweets On Hijab Row: Here's What She Said

News anchor and journalist Rubika Liyaquat drew reaction on social media Wednesday for the views she espoused on the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka. Taking to Twitter, Liyaquat posted a series of tweets urging girls to embrace education, not the hijab. She also made her thoughts known on the viral incident from Mandya, where a young college girl was heckled by a crowd of boys wearing saffron.

The girl, identified as Muskan, a second-year BCom student at PES College, was dressed in a burqa and hijab. While walking to her college building, she confronted the boys shouting 'Jai Shree Ram' at her, replying with 'Allahu Akbar.' More here. Lauded for her courage, the student, while talking to the press, said she was not worried about being surrounded.

"She is not worried because she is in india. She knows,the college and her non Muslim friends will not let any of the goons harm her," Liyaquat tweeted.

When asked by a Congress leader what she had to say on the heckling of the college girl by saffron-clad men, Liyaquat said, "Trying to surround a girl wearing a saffron gamchha is shameful, it is hooliganism.. Just as she faced those boys boldly, she should also face the orthodox thinking."

She also hit out at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who tweeted Wednesday morning, "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." Liyaquat, invoking Gandhi's Uttar Pradesh election slogan of 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' , wrote she did not expect this from her.

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For weeks now, several girls in Karnataka, beginning with colleges in Udupi, are protesting against not being allowed to sit in classes with their hijabs on. College administrations have said the hijab, a religious headscarf worn by many Muslim women, is not part of the uniform whereas protesting students claim such a rule did not exist before.

The events over the past few days have prompted opposition from Hindu students, who have shown up on campuses wearing saffron and chanting religious slogans. The Karnataka Chief Minister this week announced the shutdown of all colleges and schools across the state in light of the situation. Follow updates here.

Calling the support pouring in for hijabi girls in Karnataka "double standards," Liyaquat tweeted, "All these khalas, pretending to play duffel for women's rights, have left their veils, hijab, burqa dupatta behind and today instead of bringing the girls forward, they are pushing back..solidarity masquerade. So that their agenda continues." She added the hashtag, 'hijab nahi kitaab do.'

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Liyaquat, who is with ABP News, hails from Rajasthan. In further tweets, she wrote that the practice of ghoonghat prevalent in her state never extended to school girls.

"Women almost finished wearing veils... But we are going the opposite way.. Honestly look at Muslim elderly grandmothers around you, they will not wear burqa, they will wear dupatta or chadar over them... How did these black burqas grow so much in the new generation?"