Ahead of a Congress press convention in Bengaluru on February 18a celebration legislator Naseer Ahmed suggested Leader of the Opposition within the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, to handle the Urdu media to dispel doubts within the Muslim group that the occasion has stored mum over the hijab row, In the following dialog picked by microphones, the previous chief minister replied: “Let the KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) chief (DK Shivakumar) come. Let us involve the party, otherwise it will be construed that only Siddaramaiah raised the issue.”
Amid the raging controversy over barring Muslim ladies in hijab from getting into colleges and faculties within the state, the Congress appears to have been caught in a dilemma over supporting the Muslim group, its conventional vote base, on the difficulty. Muslims make up practically 10 per cent inhabitants of Karnataka.
The Congress has been hesitant and non-committal on the hijab difficulty. Although Siddaramaiah stated on February 4 on the behest of the occasion’s Muslim leaders that imposed restrictions on hijab in colleges and faculties had been supposed to curb the Muslim woman training, the occasion later went silent after the ruling BJP made a counter-attack saying the Congress leaders had been supporting sporting of hijab by Muslim ladies.
The Congress management initially imposed a gag order on occasion leaders, asking them to chorus from making feedback on the matter. The occasion additionally didn’t elevate the difficulty within the ongoing Assembly session, preferring as an alternative to assault the BJP on feedback by a senior minister KS Eswarappa that Hindutva’s saffron flag will someday change India’s nationwide flag.
Last week, a Muslim Congress MLA, Zameer Ahmed, spoke out in favor of hijab as being important in Islam for shielding the modesty of ladies. He was nonetheless reprimanded and compelled to tender an apology by the occasion. “We have requested everybody to not touch upon the difficulty however some have been commenting. No one is greater than the occasion and we all know tips on how to take care of them. This is a direct order of the Congress occasion,” Shivakumar stated.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi quipped Saturday that “I’ve concrete data that there’s a division inside the Congress occasion itself on hijab. There is one group that feels {that a} pro-hijab stance should not be taken and that doing so would lead to political harm to the occasion. There can be concern that if they don’t take up the difficulty then they might lose Muslim votes. As a outcome they’re blowing the difficulty of Eshwarappa’s feedback out of proportion.”
A younger Congress chief stated, “We feel that we must not support minorities publicly on these issues and that we must do it quietly, otherwise it would play into the hands of the BJP.”
The Congress has now been holding back-channel parleys with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Education Minister BC Nagesh to get the curbs eliminated on Muslim ladies attending colleges and faculties in hijab on account of a perceived however non-existent state-wide ban on hijab. The occasion has additionally approved its Muslim leaders – together with working president Saleem Ahmed, MLAs, UT Khader, Zameer, Tanvir Sait, Rizwan Arshad, NA Haris, and Kaneez Fathima, and MLC Naseer Ahmed — to barter with the state authorities.
“Party president Shivakumar and I accompanied representatives of minorities to fulfill CM Bommai, and requested him to resolve the difficulty. Our concern is that training shouldn’t be denied to anybody,” Siddaramaiah stated at his February 18 joint press convention with Shivakumar. This was the primary time that
the occasion voiced its issues over the hijab row.
“The Sangh Parivar has created pointless controversy over hijab. The apply of sporting hijab is just not new. Many Muslim ladies could not put on hijab and that’s their private selection. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jains have many practices primarily based on their spiritual beliefs. This is their elementary proper and no person ought to intrude with that,” Siddaramaiah said. “The Sangh Parivar is conspiring to deny education to Muslim girls by raking up the hijab issue. Education is a fundamental right and nobody should be denied the right. Manmohan Singh implemented the Right to Education Act and guaranteed education for all.”
Shivakumar charged that the BJP was not solely “disturbing” peace in Karnataka with its insurance policies but additionally placing doubts within the minds of potential traders.
“We have to set aside political motives and fight for peace and prosperity in the country,” he stated.
“It is extremely unlucky that in varied diploma faculties and colleges, ladies sporting hijab had been despatched again from the gates of the institutes. It is distressing to see that authorities proceed to misread the High Court order and the method continues to violate the correct to training of ladies,” the delegation of Congress legislators stated in a memorandum to the state training minister on February 17.
The different main Opposition occasion in Karnataka, Janata Dal (Secular), which has a minor base among the many Muslim group, has additionally been muted in its response, with former CM HD Kumaraswamy merely saying on February 5 that restrictions on hijab amounted to the “ Beti hatao” coverage moderately than a “Beti padhao, beti bachao” coverage professed by the Narendra Modi authorities.
Smaller events just like the pro-Muslim SDPI and its associates have been most vocal in elevating the difficulty of “discrimination” in opposition to Muslim ladies on the hijab difficulty.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
