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Karnataka Congress MLAs sport black bands in assembly amid hijab row
Demanding action and a criminal case against Eshwarappa for his statement that the saffron flag may fly at the Red Fort in place of the national flag, sometime in the future, Siddaramaiah said, patriots don’t speak such things.
The Congress party in Karnataka on Monday wore black armbands during the joint sitting of the state legislature to mark their protest against the ongoing Hijab row in several parts of the state.
“The reason we have tied this black cloth is that they (Bharatiya Janata Party) only gave rise to the Hijab row, draped children in saffron shawls and they have admitted to this, which (KS) Eshwarappa only said that it was brought from Surat and distributed. Action should be initiated against him and a criminal case should be filed for saying that they will hoist this (saffron) flag where the tricolour is hoisted. That is not the words of someone who has any devotion for the country,” Siddaramaiah, the Congress Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly said before Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s addressed in Bengaluru.
“Also, they (Union government) did not allow tableaux of Narayan Guru on Republic Day. We are doing this (black arm-band protest) for that also,” Siddaramaiah added.
Demanding action and a criminal case against Eshwarappa for his statement that the saffron flag may fly at the Red Fort in place of the national flag, sometime in the future, Siddaramaiah said, patriots don’t speak such things.
State Congress President D K Shivakumar, too, hit out at the ruling BJP on the hijab row, accusing it of using students for the sake of politics.
He said his party wore a black band during the Governor’s address as a mark of protest, as he alleged that there is no law and order, and the government officials, including police are also being used for politics.
Shivakumar also requested chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and the Governor to dismiss Eshwarappa from the state cabinet and said a sedition case should be booked against him.
The statements come even as the hijab row refuses to mellow down, with teachers forcing students and their colleagues alike to remove the headscarves before entering the premises of the institution.
On Monday, Videos of parents arguing with teachers for stopping hijab-wearing students in Karnataka’s Mandya district have gone viral on social media, attracting sharp criticism as students and teachers wearing headscarves and burqa were made to remove them outside the gates near the road in full public view and prying TV cameras.
In Shivamogga’s public school at least 13 students returned home without giving their preparatory exams for 10th grade after they refused to remove the headscarves.
A three-judge bench led by Karnataka Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awathi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit of the Karnataka High Court (HC) is hearing multiple petitions, seeking to allow the wearing of headscarves inside classes.
On Monday, the advocate representing the protesting girls from government girls’ pre-university college in Udupi, the epicentre of the controversy, appealed to the court to allow headscarves of the same colour of the uniform.
“I am not only challenging the GO but also asking for a positive mandate for allowing me to wear a headscarf of the same colour of the uniform,” advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing on behalf of the girls of the government pre-university college in Udupi, told the bench, PTI reported.
After a near week-long hijab row forced holiday, high schools in Karnataka reopened on Monday amid prohibitory orders in Udupi, which witnessed violence and tension last week, and sensitive areas of Dakshina Kannada and Bengaluru.
Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed in sensitive areas in the said districts.
In Udupi district, all the schools that reopened witnessed normal attendance, Education Department sources said. Muslim girl students who reached the school campuses wearing hijabs and removed them before entering classes.
Examinations scheduled for the day are also going on in the institutions.
“Schools up to 10th standard have reopened today. A few incidents have been reported in various districts. A meeting would be convened to discuss the lacunae and standard operating procedures. School management, principals and the parents have the responsibility of obeying the High Court order. It will create a conducive atmosphere for the High Court to deliver its final judgement. We should maintain restraint till then,” Bommai said on Monday.
