Within 24 hours of announcing that his government will lift the ban on hijab in government-run educational institutions in the state, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday took a U-turn, clarifying that the ban order has not been lifted yet. The CM said that while his government is contemplating lifting the ban, the matter is pending in courts.
Controversy surrounding the hijab had once again raised its head in Karnataka on Friday when Siddaramaiah made a public announcement that he had issued instructions to lift the ban on hijab in government-run schools in the state.
Siddaramaiah was hitting out at the previous BJP government when a member of the public raised the much-debated issue of whether hijab should be allowed in educational institutions.
“They say ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ (Cooperation With All, Development of All), but they do so by side-lining people who wear skullcaps, burqas, and those sporting a beard. Is this what they mean?” the CM questioned while addressing people at the inauguration event of two newly constructed police stations in Nanjangudu in Mysore district late on Friday.
“Will there be restrictions on hijab?,” came a question from the crowd. In response, Siddaramaiah said: “No. You can go around wearing a hijab; I have already given instructions to my officials to lift the ban. What you wear and what you eat is your choice. Why should I come in the way? You wear any clothing you want; you can eat whatever you want. Why should I be worried? I will eat what I want. It’s very simple.”
“I wear a panche (dhoti) and jubba (kurta), you wear your pant and shirt, what’s wrong? It’s your choice. Don’t do politics for votes,” he said to loud cheers.
Interestingly, the Karnataka Chief Minister’s comment had come just a day after his consecutive meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Karnataka BJP state president BY Vijayendra had come down heavily on the CM’s comment, calling it an “irresponsible statement on the issue of hijab” made with an intent to disturb the “secular nature” of educational institutions in the state.
“He is trying to cause disruption in educational institutions. At least they could have spared children from their (Congress) dirty politics. We did not expect this from a CM, and the state government should have at least kept children away from this,” said Vijayendra.
The previous Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government had imposed a ban on girl students from wearing the hijab in educational institutions, stating that “clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public law and order should not be worn”.
The controversy rocked the state and reached the portals of the Supreme Court of India when six girls from Udupi’s Government PU College were denied permission to wear hijab in classrooms. This incident took place on December 28, 2021.
According to the previous BJP government, the ban on wearing the hijab to classrooms was not a violation of the fundamental right to religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. The decision taken in 2021 led to massive protests across the state, and several petitions were filed in the High Court and the Supreme Court against the order.
In March 2022, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the petitions and upheld the ban with the observation that “wearing a hijab was not an essential religious practice of Islam.”
“This is the Siddaramaiah government’s diversion tactic as they are unable to deliver any of the promises made by them to come to power,” BJP’s Yashpal Suvarna told News18.
Calling the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government a “complete failure” in governance, the BJP leader said that by trying to undo “some of the important laws” passed by the BJP government, the CM has put his hand inside a honeycomb, “which will come back to bite him”.
Suvarna, BJP’s newly elected MLA from Udupi, is also known as the poster boy of the campaign against the hijab. He is the vice-president of the Development Committee of the Udupi Government PU Girls’ College, which has been at the centre of the controversy.
On social media, BJP’s handles called the statement by the CM a way of “creating divisions” and “trying to sow the poison of religious bigotry in a harmonious society”.
In October 2022, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment of March 15, 2022 that upheld the ban on wearing hijab in government schools and pre-university colleges.
A full bench of the Karnataka High Court heard a batch of petitions filed by student petitioners for 11 consecutive days to finally deliver the verdict of upholding the ban on hijab and stated in its judgment “that the prescription of the school uniform is only a reasonable restriction constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to”.
Later, when the issue was heard in the Supreme Court, the Karnataka HC order was upheld by Justice Hemant Gupta (now retired) stating that “it was only to promote uniformity and encourage a secular environment” in classrooms, while Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia called wearing a hijab by students in a classroom as “a matter of choice” and a “fundamental right”.
Following the top court’s split verdict on the issue and the decision to refer the matter to a three-member bench, girls in hijab have not been permitted to take the exams. The matter continues to remain pending in the Supreme Court.
In October this year, another hijab-related controversy had erupted in Karnataka when confusion prevailed over hijab-wearing women being allowed to appear for examinations for recruitment to major departments like the Labour Department, KEONICS, MSIL, and Sainik Welfare Board. Karnataka’s Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar had clarified to News18 that the issue should not be confused with the SC order on hijab in schools.
A few months prior, in June, Congress minister K Venkatesh courted controversy just before Bakri-Eid celebrations. In an informal meeting, he indicated that the anti-cow slaughter legislation passed by the Basavaraj Bommai government would be withdrawn. But no decision on this has been passed by the Congress government yet.
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