Wary of playing into BJP hands, Karnataka Congress in a cleft stick over hijab row
Ahead of a Congress press conference in Bengaluru on February 18, a party legislator Naseer Ahmed advised Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, to address the Urdu media to dispel doubts in the Muslim community that the party has kept mum over the hijab row. In the ensuing conversation picked by microphones, the former chief minister replied: “Let the KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) chief (D K 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 girls in hijab from entering schools and colleges in the state, the Congress seems to have been caught in a dilemma over supporting the Muslim community, its traditional vote base, on the issue. Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent population of Karnataka.
The Congress has been hesitant and non-committal on the hijab issue. Although Siddaramaiah said on February 4 at the behest of the party’s Muslim leaders that restrictions imposed on hijab in schools and colleges were intended to curb the Muslim girl education, the party subsequently went silent after the ruling BJP made a counter-attack saying the Congress leaders were supporting wearing of hijab by Muslim girls.
The Congress leadership initially imposed a gag order on party leaders, asking them to refrain from making comments on the matter. The party also did not raise the issue in the ongoing Assembly session, preferring instead to attack the BJP on comments by a senior minister K S Eshwarappa that Hindutva’s saffron flag will one day replace India’s national flag.
Last week, a Muslim Congress MLA, Zameer Ahmed, spoke out in favour of hijab as being essential in Islam for protecting the modesty of women. He was however reprimanded and forced to tender an apology by the party. “We have asked everyone not to comment on the issue but some have been commenting. No one is bigger than the party and we know how to deal with them. This is a direct order of the Congress party,” Shivakumar said.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi quipped Saturday that “I have concrete information that there is a division within the Congress party itself on hijab. There is one group that feels that a pro-hijab stance must not be taken and that doing so would result in political damage to the party. There is also fear that if they do not take up the issue then they could lose Muslim votes. As a result they are blowing the issue of Eshwarappa’s comments out of proportion.’’
A young Congress leader said, “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 B C Nagesh to get the curbs removed on Muslim girls attending schools and colleges in hijab on account of a perceived but non-existent state-wide ban on hijab. The party has also authorised its Muslim leaders – including working president Saleem Ahmed, MLAs, U T Khader, Zameer, Tanvir Sait, Rizwan Arshad, N A Haris, and Kaneez Fathima, and MLC Naseer Ahmed — to negotiate with the state government.
“Party president Shivakumar and I accompanied representatives of minorities to meet CM Bommai, and asked him to resolve the issue. Our concern is that education should not be denied to anyone,” Siddaramaiah said at his February 18 joint press conference with Shivakumar. This was the first time that
the party voiced its concerns over the hijab row.
“The Sangh Parivar has created unnecessary controversy over hijab. The practice of wearing hijab is not new. Many Muslim girls may not wear hijab and that is their personal choice. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jains have many practices based on their religious beliefs. This is their fundamental right and nobody should interfere 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 only “disturbing” peace in Karnataka with its policies but also putting doubts in the minds of potential investors.
“We have to set aside political motives and fight for peace and prosperity in the country,” he said.
“It is highly unfortunate that in various degree colleges and schools, girls wearing hijab were sent back from the gates of the institutes. It is distressing to see that authorities continue to misinterpret the High Court order and the process continues to violate the right to education of girls,” the delegation of Congress legislators said in a memorandum to the state education minister on February 17.
The other major Opposition party in Karnataka, Janata Dal (Secular), which has a minor base among the Muslim community, has also been muted in its response, with former CM H D Kumaraswamy merely saying on February 5 that restrictions on hijab amounted to the “Beti hatao” policy rather than a “Beti padhao, beti bachao” policy professed by the Narendra Modi government.
Smaller parties like the pro-Muslim SDPI and its affiliates have been most vocal in raising the issue of “discrimination” against Muslim girls on the hijab issue.
