The Congress will lift the hijab ban in Karnataka’s educational institutions, the party’s two-time MLA, Kaneez Fatima, said on Saturday.
Fathima who is the only Muslim woman MLA in the state, said to the news website Scroll: “God willing, we will reverse the hijab ban in the coming days.”
“We will get those girls back to classrooms and they will be able to appear for their exams. They have lost two precious years,” Fatima said.
Gulbarga North MLA Kaneez Fatima, who fought for girls’ right to wear hijab in Karnataka’s educational institutions, retains her seat by defeating BJP’s Chandrakanth Patil by 2,712 votes. Fatima, 63, garnered 80,973 votes with a 45.28% vote share as against Patil’s 78,261 votes with a 43.76% vote share to win the Gulbarga North.
“It is our right to wear hijab. In Independent India, we have our freedoms. We do not question people on their clothes. Girls must not be prevented from going to colleges over this issue,” Fatima had said at the peak of the protests against the hijab ban.
Fatima is the life partner of veteran politician late Qamarul Islam, a former minister, and six-term local MLA. Gulbarga North was won in 2008 and 2013 by Qamarul Islam.
Her announcement of lifting the Hijab ban comes hours after Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh, whose department had imposed the hijab ban, lost his Tiptur seat. The ruling BJP which held 118 seats in the 15th Assembly was reduced to 65 by the Congress surge from 69 seats to 136. The regional Janata Dal (Secular) party’s tally fell from 32 seats to 19.
The Congress, however, had not made any announcement about lifting the ban in its poll manifesto.
