Congress will lift hijab ban in Karnataka, says the party’s only Muslim woman MLA

The Congress will lift the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions of Karnataka, the party’s only Muslim woman MLA in the state, Kaneez Fatima, told Scroll on Saturday.

“God willing, we will reverse the hijab ban in the coming days and we will get those girls back to classrooms and they will be able to appear for their exams,” Fatima said. “They have lost two precious years.”

The party, however, had not made any announcement about lifting the ban in its election manifesto.

The Congress secured a clear majority in Karnataka, winning 136 of the 224 Assembly seats in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 65, while the Janata Dal (Secular) won 19.

Fatima defeated the BJP’s Chandrakant B Patil in the Gulbarga Uttar constituency by 2,712 votes.

A controversy on wearing hijab in educational institutes of Karnataka had sparked off in December 2021 after a college in Udupi stopped six girls from attending classes as they used to wrap the headscarf. The girls staged a protest in the college and soon such demonstrations spread to other parts of the state.

On February 5, the Karnataka government passed an order banning clothings that “disturb equality, integrity and public order”. Six girl students from the Udupi college challenged the order in the Karnataka High Court, but...

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