By PTI
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the country is robbing the future of daughters by letting the hijab come in the way of girl education.
Coming out in support of hijab-wearing Muslim girl students not allowed entry in educational institutes in Karnataka, he said the goddess Saraswati does not differentiate and gives knowledge to all.
“By letting students’ hijab come in the way of their education, we are robbing the future of the daughters of India.
Ma Saraswati gives knowledge to all. She doesn’t differentiate. #SaraswatiPuja,” Gandhi said on Twitter.
‘I love hijab’ movement in Karnataka; BJP says it won’t allow Talibanisation
The hijab row in Karnataka is spreading fast to other districts of the state. Muslim students in Mysuru district started a “I love hijab” movement on Friday.
The ruling BJP has declared that it won’t let Talibanisation happen and told these students that if they want to attend classes they will have to shun the hijab.
Muslim students have started a ‘I love hijab” movement in Mysuru city extending their support to the protest of students in Udupi district to wear a hijab and attend classes.
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The group of students gathered near the historical Bannimantap and staged a protest urging the government to allow students with hijab. The protestors held placards saying ‘I love hijab’ and later attended classes wearing a hijab.
The police intervened when Hindu students came to classes wearing saffron shawls in Ramdurg College of Belagavi in north Karnataka.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting on the evolving situation in the state over the hijab row. Education Minister B.C. Nagesh and top officers of the education department attended the meeting and briefed Bommai on the issue.
Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa stated that the ruling BJP is observing the developments and a suitable decision will be taken at a suitable time on the hijab row.
Former Minister from the Congress U.T. Khader warned the ruling BJP that if the students come out in the open, the government can’t withstand it.
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Former Minister and senior Congress leader Satish Jarakiholi stated that there is a possibility of the hijab row escalating and spreading and the government must stop it.
Another senior Congress leader B.Z. Zameer Ahmad Khan stated that he was pained to see the students denied entry into college and standing on the road in Kundapur for wearing a hijab.
“It was wrong. The ruling BJP is behind this,” he charged.
Much at stake as polarisation politics plays out in coastal Karnataka
With the Assembly election just about a year away, the politics of polarisation is back to haunt the coastal region of Karnataka. Beginning with the headscarf row, this is only likely to intensify as political parties look to score points in the run-up to the polls.
While the BJP and the SDPI look to gain from the goings-on, the Congress, which has a voter base scattered across all communities and religions, is treading a more cautious line. Political analysts say that political parties have resorted to such experiments as development issues do not get them the desired results when compared to polarisation.
Over the decades, the coastal belt has become a laboratory for the Sangh Parivar and ahead of every major election, communal issues are whipped up as if on cue. Just like how the BJP expanded its footprints in the region by playing the Hindutva card, the SDPI, which won three seats in a civic poll in Kaup Town, seems to be eager to consolidate on the gains.
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According to reliable sources, the hijab row at the Government PU College for Girls in Udupi, where the controversy first broke out, was fuelled by the SDPI and further fanned by the Campus Front of India. Till recently, girls never came wearing the hijab to the college and the issue sprung up suddenly, they pointed out.
College development committee president and Udupi MLA K Raghupathi Bhat too is keen to milk the issue, they pointed out.
Political analyst Prof Kokkarne Surendranath Shetty told The New Indian Express that caught between politics and religion, the education of students is at stake. ‘
’If the BJP and SDPI leaders are counting on how the polarisation would benefit them, the Congress is trying to play the balancing act. This may play out in different dimensions, but it’s innocent people who become the pawns here,” he rued.
Educationist Rajendra Bhat K says the tacit involvement of political parties in the hijab row cannot be discounted. ‘’I hope the people, particularly students, do not fall prey to the agenda of the political parties’’ he said.
(With Inputs From IANS and ENS)