Karnataka hijab row: State govt to make decision within the bounds of law, says Priyank Kharge

Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge has stepped into the hijab dispute, saying the state will implement whatever is within the bounds of the law and constitution on the tumultuous matter. Chief minister had made waves on Friday when he announced he would revoke the BJP's ban on hijab in educational institutes.

The CM has come under fire from both pro-Muslim outfits for not actually passing an order to remove the ban, and the BJP for “stirring up controversy.” Meanwhile, the state’s home minister G Parameshwara said on Monday that the government would decide on lifting restrictions after looking into the matter deeply. “We have not made any orders regarding hijab,” he said.

In February 2022, the then BJP government had banned hijabs on college campuses following a protest in a pre-university college in Udupi. While the Karnataka High Court had upheld the ban, the matter reached a split verdict in the Supreme Court last October. It is now pending in the apex court before a larger bench.


On Friday, Siddaramaiah had slammed the BJP for “dividing” society on the basis of clothes, caste, and religion. “The choice of clothes is one's own prerogative…Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' is bogus,” he had said.