Will always support uniforms in schools; no hijab or other dresses: BJP

On Thursday, the BJP declared that it would always oppose children wearing the hijab or any other kind of clothing aside from school uniforms and that religious freedom could not be used to further “separatism.” Following the Supreme Court’s split decision on the hijab ban in educational institutions, a prominent party official from the state of Karnataka, CT Ravi, the national general secretary of the BJP, said that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the decision.

But he pledged to constantly speak out against the “separatist ideology” that supports Muslim head coverings in classrooms. “The purpose of school uniforms is to foster student unity. I think that problems like promoting the burqa or the hijab serve as a cover for separatists. The division of India was brought about by this mentality. This separatism develops into an extreme that can give rise to terrorism “He asserted.
According to him, Karnataka schools have been required to wear uniforms since 1965. He argued that religious freedom in India cannot equate to the propagation of “separatist” ideologies by citing widespread demonstrations against hijabs in Iran, a country that practises Islam.

The question, he continued, is not whether or not to wear a headscarf, but rather what to wear to school. And only uniforms should be worn in schools, he added, not the hijab or any other attire. The two-judge Supreme Court panel referred the case to the chief justice of India for the purpose of assembling a larger bench after the split decision. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia granted the arguments and noted that, in the end, it is a “matter of choice.” Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals against the Karnataka High Court’s March 15 decision that refused to lift the ban and held that hijab is not a part of “essential religious practice” in the Islamic faith.

Numerous attorneys representing the petitioners at the highest court argued throughout the hearings that allowing Muslim girls to wear the hijab to class would jeopardise their education because they would quit showing up to class. The state’s attorney claimed that the Karnataka government decree that sparked the hijab controversy was “religiously neutral.” The state’s attorney had argued in the top court that if the government had not acted in the way it did, it would have been “guilty of dereliction of constitutional duty,” insisting that the movement in favour of wearing the hijab in educational institutions was not a “spontaneous act” by a small number of people.