Hijab not a major issue in coastal Karnataka poll campaign

Mangaluru: The controversial issue of Muslim girls wearing ‘hijab’ in educational institutions, which had hit national headlines last year with a government pre-university college in Udupi banning it inside classrooms, does not appear to be a serious campaign issue for the May 10 elections to the Karnataka Assembly.
The BJP government in the state had in an order last year banned wearing of hijab inside campuses after the controversy broke out, saying ‘any clothing that would disturb equality, integrity and public law and order’ will not be allowed. Students were directed to wear only the uniforms prescribed for them in schools and PU colleges. The order was passed after several hijab-wearing girls in the state were denied entry into educational institutions wearing hijab. The move had led to widespread protests across the country. The Karnataka High Court upheld the government order after a few Muslim girl students moved the court. The judgement was then challenged before the Supreme Court, which subsequently delivered a split verdict in October. The matter will be later heard by a larger bench. BJP’s poster boy of the hijab row, Yashpal Suvarna, is now the party’s candidate for the Udupi Assembly constituency. When the row broke out, he was vice-president of the development committee of the Udupi government PU college for women.
The incumbent MLA Raghupati Bhat, who was president of the committee, was replaced by Suvarna, a Mogaveera (fishermen community) leader and firebrand activist who has a strong support base among the party cadre.
Suvarna says the controversy was a creation of ‘anti-national and anti-social’ elements, who did not want Muslim girls or even poor Hindu students to be educated. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance and the development initiatives of the BJP government will be my campaign agenda,” Suvarna said.
He said the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) was responsible for creating unrest in the Dakshina Kannada region over the hijab issue. Otherwise, Udupi is a place of peace-loving people.
Suvarna said the PFI, its student outfit Campus Front of India (CFI) and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) created the issue because they did not want girl children to be educated. “They wanted to divert the attention of the economically poor students at government PU college,” he said.However, the hijab issue is not being taken up actively during the election campaign and the BJP is focussing on the development plank. If any party is secretly turning hijab into a campaign issue, it is the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the banned PFI. Political observers say they are the actual beneficiary of the issue with which they are trying to stir up emotions among the Muslim community.The Congress leaders are also not highlighting the issue in their campaign.