Karnataka To Lift Hijab Ban In Educational Institutions, Announces CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah announced the withdrawal of hijab ban order in the state on Friday evening.

Hijab (headscarf) ban in educational institutions was imposed by the previous government, helmed by BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai, last year.

Siddaramaiah took to social media platform X to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP.

Terming Modi’s catchphrase ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’ as ‘bogus’, Siddaramaiah said that BJP was “doing the work of dividing people and society on the basis of clothes, dress and caste.”

“Women can go out wearing hijab. I have told the officials to take back the order (previous govt order),” Siddaramaiah said.

“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,” ANI quoted Siddaramaiah as saying.

The hijab controversy erupted in the southern state in January 2022 when some students of a pre-university college in Udupi were not allowed to attend classes wearing hijab.

A month later, the Karnataka government imposed a ban on hijab in classrooms.

It triggered mass protests at several locations across Karnataka.

In March 2022, Karnataka High Court upheld the state government’s ban on wearing headscarf in educational institutions.

The verdict was challenged in Supreme Court.

The country’s top court delivered a split verdict on hijab ban in October 2022, and directed placing appeals against Karnataka High Court order before the Chief Justice of India for constitution of larger bench.