BJP Hits Back: Hijab Policy Flip Aimed at Minority Votes
2 min read
Karnataka’s political arena heated up Wednesday when Leader of Opposition R Ashok launched a frontal assault on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Congress government. At the center: the controversial withdrawal of the 2022 uniform directive, paving the way for hijabs and other religious symbols in educational settings.
Ashok’s statement pulled no punches, portraying the move as a knee-jerk reaction to Davangere bypoll woes and minority voter backlash. ‘It’s textbook damage control to protect their precious vote bank,’ he charged, accusing the party of divisive strategies.
He laid bare the state’s neglected priorities: skyrocketing prices, graft allegations, agrarian distress with rising suicides, and deteriorating security. ‘Governance in shambles, yet they’re dredging up religious issues for mileage,’ Ashok lamented.
Labeling it a ‘brazen political bribe,’ he rejected any notion of fundamental rights. The BJP leader turned to legal history, citing the 2022 High Court decision that enshrined uniform dress to promote equity and order in schools.
‘Institutions of learning must embody uniformity, not become arenas for faith-based assertions,’ the court had ruled—a stance now undermined, per Ashok, amounting to judicial defiance.
He called out the double standards in Congress’s secular posturing: hijab yes, bhagwa no. Likening it to Bengal’s appeasement model, Ashok predicted social discord. ‘Schools aren’t testing grounds for division; this endangers our youth for electoral scraps.’
Details of the new rules: post-scrapping the February 2022 order, students can don hijabs, turbans, janeyu, or rudraksha with uniforms—a concession fueling fresh outrage.
Ashok’s broadside positions BJP to rally against what it sees as Congress’s vote-chasing antics, potentially galvanizing debates on education, secularism, and state priorities in the months ahead.
