As the hijab debate rages in Karnataka, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao attacked the Congress-led Karnataka government on Sunday, claiming that the Siddaramaiah government has not to repeal the state's prohibition on hijab and is still considering it, news agency ANI reported. "They have not lifted the ban on hijab yet and the CM has said that they are thinking about it. People are seeing the behaviour of Congress that what they say before coming to power and how they change after getting power," KTR said.
The hijab question resurfaced when Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a public conference that his government will abolish the ban enforced by the previous BJP government in the state.
"We are thinking of withdrawing the decision (of hijab ban). We will discuss it. I have said this in response to a question. We have not done it yet," the Chief Minister was quoted by ANI in its report.
In his address, CM Siddaramaiah stated that politics should not be based on what people choose to wear and eat.
"There was a drought in the state, and the women didn't have protection. The government was so bankrupt that it had stopped making the children clean toilets. To cover up all these failures, the Congress leaders were making such statements to mislead people. They did the same thing when the IT raid on a contractor yielded crores of rupees. The incumbent government was not at all interested in development. The government has a sinister design of creating a rift among the kids," he added.
The previous BJP administration in the state had prohibited students from wearing hijabs in educational institutions. The case made its way to the Karnataka High Court, which maintained the restriction imposed by the then-BJP administration. In this case, the Supreme Court issued a divided decision, upholding the Karnataka High Court.