Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday clarified that the “hijab ban” is not “repealed yet", but the Congress administration is "considering" lifting the hijab ban in states' educational institutions. Siddaramaiah cleared the air, adding that a decision will be made after the state government holds talks on the matter.
"We have not done it (rescinding the Hijab ban) yet. Someone asked me a question about lifting the Hijab ban. I replied that the government is considering revoking it," the Chief Minister said addressing the Media personnel.
This statement of the Karnataka CM comes a day after he mentioned that there are no restrictions on wearing religious headscarves in educational institutions and stressed that choices related to dress and food are personal.
Siddaramaiah's statement from Friday :
"We will take back that decision, there is no Hijab ban now. Women can go out wearing hijab. I have told the officials to take back the 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 do not do that."
In February 2022, the then BJP government imposed a ban on donning hijab, ruling out that wearing a uniform is mandatory and that no special exceptions would be made for hijab.
The ban was imposed following a conflict regarding school uniforms that arose in the Indian state of Karnataka when Muslim students at a junior college were refused entry for wearing hijabs, citing a violation of the college's uniform policy, which applied to students of other religions as well.
Subsequently, the dispute extended to other schools and colleges in the state. In response, groups of Hindu students staged counter-protests, advocating the right to wear saffron scarves.
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