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BJP: Congress is taking away attention from hijab row
The leader added that Congress has realised that the recent hijab controversy has consolidated the people of the state behind the saffron party
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Karnataka on Thursday said the Congress party is harping on a ‘non-existent’ controversy over state minister KS Eshwarappa’s comments on the national flag to deflect attention away from the ongoing hijab controversy.
At a time when colleges in Karnataka are restricting students wearing hijab from entering classes and the high court is hearing the petitions questioning the legality of the hijab ban, the Congress leaders are holding an overnight protest at the state assembly seeking the Eshwarappa’s resignation, over his remarks that the saffron flag could in future fly in place of the tricolour at Red Fort.
“The minister has been quoted out of context, he has clearly said that tricolour is constitutionally accepted flag during the same interaction, but the Congress has ignored it. What they want is a spectacle,” said a senior BJP legislator, who didn’t want to be named.
The leader added that Congress has realised that the recent hijab controversy has consolidated the people of the state behind the saffron party. “Our stand that religion will be kept outside the classrooms has brought several consolidated our vote bank in the coastal region. Congress didn’t know how to respond to us in this hijab controversy and when they realised it was politically affecting them, they have picked up this issue. They don’t want the hijab issue to be discussed in the Assembly,” the leader told HT.
The flag controversy began last week when Eshwarappa said that in the future the saffron flag, could become the national flag of India, and the same will be unfurled at the Red Fort. “Hindu dharma will prevail in the country sometime in the future. Then, we will hoist the saffron flag at Red Fort,” Eshwarappa had said.
The Congress party waded into the hijab controversy after more colleges started barring students from entering premises. A party leader working in the coastal region of the state admitted that the party was confused over its response.
“Initially, the decision was to let the controversy play out and move on,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.
Congress, however, denied these allegations. Deputy Leader of the Opposition UT Khader said that he has already raised the hijab issue in the Assembly, and the party will question the BJP’s politics over hijab.
“There’s confusion on the implementation of the High Court interim order. The order doesn’t apply to schools. Still, children are being sent back. Some of them are missing exams because of this,” Khader had asked the government during the zero hours on Tuesday.
The BJP, on the other hand, is confident that regardless of the High Court order, the hijab controversy will help sweep the coastal votes once again. “They accuse BJP and other parties of creating and organising the saffron shawl protest, but the fact is that they happened on its own. This gives us a lot of confidence that people are rallying behind an ideology,” the BJP leader added.
Unlike the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the hijab row has affected Congress’s chances in districts like Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. While in the other regions of the state, caste plays a major role, coastal Karnataka is dominated by communal politics.
“The Congress was trying to change the religious politics of the region to vote based on caste. They knew that if the Billva and Mogaveera (a large vote bank in the region) voted based on caste instead of coming together under the banner of Hindutva, it would help the chances of the Congress. But the hijab controversy has changed the situation to Hindu versus Muslim,” pointed out a professor at Mangalore University, who didn’t want to be named.
