It’s now Congress vs BJP on hijab row

The hijab row that has rocked the communally-sensitive coastal region and spread to other places in the state, turned political on Friday with the Congress backing the Muslim girls and the BJP espousing uniforms without religious symbolism.

A BJP minister went a step further and vowed that the government will not allow the “Talibanisation” of Karnataka.

The hijab-saffron controversy spread on Friday to a government PU college in Navunda, Byndoor (also Udupi) and Ramdurg PU College in Belagavi. Similar incidents were reported from Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga last month. Meanwhile, a group of girls demonstrated at Bannimantap (Mysuru) in favour of the hijab.

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Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah supported the Muslim girls’ right to wear the hijab to class, making it the first assertive statement from the Congress on the ongoing controversy.

“Denying the girls entry inside a college, that too a government college, is a violation of the students’ fundamental rights,” Siddaramaiah said.

“The principal of a government college closing the gates on the girls who were crying…it is inhuman.”

The Congress leader accused the BJP government of allowing the issue to escalate. He said there is no prescribed uniform for students. “These girls have been wearing the headscarf from the time they enrolled. But the boys wore the saffron mufflers only two days ago. That shows there is an attempt to politicise the issue,” he said, adding that the BJP is using the coastal region as a “laboratory for communal experiments”.

The BJP deployed two RSS-origin leaders to defend the government -- Primary & Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh and Kannada & Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar.

Nagesh pointed to a 2018 rule that he said was introduced by the then Siddaramaiah-led Congress allowing institutions to enforce a uniform. “There should be a limit to playing politics,” he said, adding that the agitating students had agreed in writing to follow the uniform. “Everything was fine until January. I don’t know whose mischief caused this issue.”

Also Read | Hijab row intensifies: Girls, parents stage protest

Kumar was more aggressive. “Uniform is a matter of code of conduct and wearing religious clothes cannot be tolerated,” he said. “We won’t allow Karnataka, Udupi or the Mangaluru district to become another Taliban.” He wondered how poor students enrolled in a government college can move the High Court. “Who is behind
this?”

Siddaramaiah’s deputy U T Khader said the hijab or the headscarf is “a religious essential” for Muslim women. “Today, the skirmish is happening in Udupi. Tomorrow it may happen in Bengaluru and Mangaluru.”

There seems to be some wariness within the Congress over the hijab row given the alleged involvement of the PFI and SDPI, outfits that threaten to eat into its votes. “We’re told that the girls are ready to go to class without hijab. But the Campus Front of India, SDPI and PFI want to keep the issue alive,” a senior Congress leader said.

KPCC president D K Shivakumar declined to take a stand. “The court has intervened....as party president, I can’t make my stand public. These are sensitive issues involving children, customs and tradition,” he said.

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