Hijab row: Cong MLA dares govt to bar her from Assembly as new order comes on uniform

As the hijab controversy intensifies in Karnataka with the state government issuing a ban on clothes in schools that may “disturb harmony”, a Congress legislator has said Muslim women are ready for a change in the colour of the headscarf to match it with the uniform, but they cannot leave it out entirely.
MLA Kaneez Fatima, who led a protest on Saturday over the issue that recently erupted after some Muslim girls in hijab were denied entry into a government college in Udupi, said she too wears the hijab to the Assembly and dared the government from stopping her to do so.
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"Girls are being oppressed... Their entry is being denied in schools two months prior to exams. So people of all caste and religion have gathered outside the DC’s office, Kalaburagi," she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“A memorandum will go to the chief minister (Basavaraj Bommai) and we will protest in Udupi later,” she added.
"Till now, everyone was wearing it. It's too late now. Why are they suddenly stopping us? Burkha is nothing new," she added.
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Earlier in the day, the state education department issued an order stating all schools under it should follow the uniform as stipulated by the state government, while students of private institutions would have to adhere to the dress code decided by the management of the school. Clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public order will be banned, it said.
The government invoked 133 (2) of the Karnataka Education Act-1983, which says a uniform style of clothes has to be worn compulsorily.