“We have not done it yet (allowing hijab). One person asked me a question, and I replied to that. Yes, the government is considering to end the ban. But the matter will be discussed with government officers first,” said Siddaramaiah.
The Karnataka government has not yet passed any order to end the ban on wearing the hijab in educational institutions, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday, a day after media reports claimed the hijab ban has been removed.
The ban by the previous BJP government on wearing the hijab had led to massive protests.
At an event in Mysuru yesterday, Siddaramaiah said women can wear the hijab if they want. The comment led to rumours that the Chief Minister had ordered to scrap the ban.
However, Siddaramaiah told reporters today the Karnataka government has not formally issued any order to allow the wearing the hijab in educational institutions.
“We have not done it yet (allowing hijab). One person asked me a question, and I replied to that. Yes, the government is considering to end the ban. But the matter will be discussed with government officers first,” said Siddaramaiah.
The plan to end the hijab ban was already on the Congress’s agenda before the election in May this year, when the party defeated the BJP under former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
While Siddaramaiah has targeted the BJP over dividing people based on what they wear and caste, the BJP has called the Congress’s policy “appeasement politics”.
In the hijab case, the Supreme Court had given a split verdict on whether the government has the power to make rules on what to wear. The court had said it would take up the matter with a three-judge bench
The Hijab issue began in December 2021 when six girls in Udupi’s Government PU College were restricted from wearing scarves in classrooms.
Source: dnaindia.com