Congress top leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said women have a right to decide what they want to wear, be it a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’ or ‘hijab’, reacting to a Karnataka college diktat banning women’s entry with headscarves that have led to widespread protests.

Taking to twitter, Priyanka Gandhi said: “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. This right is GUARANTEED by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women.”

Her remarks came in the wake of a row over the hijab in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has announced the closure of high school and colleges for three days.

The controversy started last month at the Government Girls PU College in Karnataka’s Udupi when six students alleged that they were not allowed in the classes for insisting on wearing the headscarf.

The Karnataka High Court is hearing petitions filed by five women from the government college in Udupi, questioning hijab restrictions. The court has also appealed for peace to the students amid intense protests.

On Tuesday, the controversy crossed the borders of Karnataka and spread in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry.

Supporting the ban on the hijab, Madhya Pradesh School Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar said the government will give priority to following a discipline for students.

In Puducherry, the authorities have asked the head of a government school in Ariyankuppam to inquire into allegations of a teacher objecting to headscarves in class, said reports.

Earlier in the evening, the Karnataka government announced that all schools and colleges in the state will be shut for the next three days after the row over wearing hijab by students inside campuses turned violent.