‘Beti Hatao policy’: Kumaraswamy slams hijab row but favours disallowing newer demands

"It seems like the government has set out to make it ‘Beti Hatao’ (keep away the girl child), instead of ‘Beti Padhao’, through this hijab controversy,” former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said.

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy (Express photo)

Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has weighed in on the hijab ban in some colleges in BJP-ruled Karnataka, saying it would keep Muslim girls away from higher education and amount to a “Beti Hatao”policy. But he also suggested the religious headscarf may be disallowed in colleges where girls are not already wearing it.

“On one hand, the central government is talking about a policy of educating girls, called ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao”. On the other hand, it seems like they have set out to make it ‘Beti Hatao’ (keep away the girl child), instead of ‘Beti Padhao’, through this hijab controversy,” Kumaraswamy said in the first JD(S) reaction to the controversy raging in pre-university colleges in the coastal region of Udupi in the state.

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“I would like to tell all political parties to stop this Beti Hatao campaign,” Kumaraswamy said. “In schools and colleges where they were already wearing the hijab, let them continue to be allowed to wear the hijab, but in the colleges where the demand has started now, let it not be allowed.”

He also said the chief minister was unable to keep his ministers under check.

Muslim girls have been barred from classes by several government and private colleges in the region in the past few days for insisting on wearing the hijab. Hindu groups have said their boys will wear saffron shawls to classrooms if Muslim girls are allowed to wear religious headscarves.

Kumaraswamy said the controversy erupted after one or two girls started wearing the hijab to college “after being provoked by a few political outfits”. “More than a Hindu-Muslim issue, it is about communalising the students. The demand for being allowed to attend college with a saffron shawl is new. These issues are being raised ahead of the polls, instead of development issues,” the JD(S) leader said.

The former chief minister also criticised Muslim outfits. “There are a few small political parties from the Muslim community involved in a big way in politics. At a time when more and more women are getting educated among Muslims, these people are trying to create problems,” he said without naming any outfit.

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While ministers and MLAs of the ruling BJP have dismissed the demand for allowing the hijab as an attempt at “Talibanization”, the main Opposition parties have largely been muted in their response. The JD(S) leader’s remarks follow former Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah’s statement that the controversy is an attempt to rob Muslim girls of their right to education and that the hijab is a part of their religion. “This is an effort to prevent Muslim girl students from being educated. The headscarf is part of the religion. This is very bad. Uniforms are not compulsory. The principals are doing this and this is inhuman,” the Congress leader said on Friday, in the first remarks on the issue from an Opposition party in the state.

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