In a surprising move, the Chief Minister of Karnataka said that his government will withdraw the ban on hijab. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the CM said a direction has been given to the officials in this regard. He tweeted in Kannada, “I have told (officials) to withdraw the hijab ban.” The Karnataka chief minister also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “dividing people and dividing society on the basis of clothes, dress, caste”. The ban was first imposed by the BJP government in the state’s educational institutions in 2022. Speaking at an event recently, he said, “We will take back that decision, there is no hijab ban now. Women can go out wearing hijab as it is a personal choice to wear the kind of dress one wants. I have told the officials to take back the order (previous govt order).” “Dressing and eating food is our choice, why should I object? Wear whatever dress you want, eat whatever you want, why should I care. We should not do politics to get votes, we don’t do that,” the CM added. The hijab controversy The hijab controversy first erupted in January 2022, when some students of a pre-university college in Karnataka’s Udupi were not allowed to attend classes wearing hijab.

Later in February 2022, the Karnataka government had imposed a ban on hijab in classrooms. This led to mass protests at various locations in Karnataka. A clash broke out among the students from two communities in Udupi district college. Section 144 was imposed in Shivamogga to restrict public gatherings after protests turned violent. On February 10, 2022, the Karnataka High Court passed an interim order saying colleges in the state can reopen, but students cannot be allowed to wear any piece of clothing that is religious till the matter is pending. Following this, petitions were filed before the Supreme Court against the high court directives in the interim order. On March 15, 2022, the Karnataka High Court ruled that hijab is not part of essential Islamic religious practice and upheld the state government’s ban on wearing headscarf in educational institutions. The verdict was challenged before the Supreme Court.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)