Will the Karnataka government revoke the order that, in effect, imposes a ban on girl students wearing the hijab in classrooms? All indications are that that is unlikely, at least in the near future.
On December 22, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the Congress government will withdraw the order that restricts hijabs in classrooms. He added that everyone should be able to wear and eat what they want. However, a day later, Mr. Siddaramaiah was evasive when asked if the restriction would be lifted this academic year. He said that his government was only “contemplating” such a move and that the matter required further deliberation. The grapevine is that the Chief Minister has been nudged by the leaders at the Centre not to touch the “sensitive” issue while the case is pending before the Supreme Court and especially before the Lok Sabha elections.
The hijab controversy that hit international headlines in early 2022, when the Assembly elections were about a year away, began in Karnataka’s communally sensitive coastal town of Udupi. A group of hijab-clad girl students in a junior college were denied entry into classroom on the grounds that their head scarves violated the institution’s uniform policy. Soon, protests flared up across Karnataka, with a section of Hindu students insisting that they would wear saffron shawls if Muslim girls were allowed to wear the hijab. This quick spread was in no small measure fuelled by social media and regional news channels. The video of a burqa-clad college girl, Muskaan, being heckled by a group of saffron shawl-wearing boys shouting “Jai Sri Ram” in Mandya in Old Mysore region went viral on social media.
