Indira Gandhi, Droupadi Murmu, pallu: JD(S) slams Karnataka's hijab stand
India Today
Earlier in the day, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Karnataka, told a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia that on March 29, 2013, the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi passed a resolution that a uniform would be prescribed.
The Janta Dal (Secular) has hit out at the Karnataka government hours after the state told the Supreme Court that the student petitioners who challenged the hijab ban in state-run institutes were influenced by the Popular Front of India (PFI).
“Indira Gandhi kept a ‘pallu’, the President of India keeps a ‘pallu’. Are these conspiracies by the PFI as well? In Rajasthan, women have ‘pallu’ over their hands. Do we declare them Muslims? ‘Pallu is the culture of Indian tradition,” senior JD(S) leader CM Ibrahim said.
Earlier in the day, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Karnataka, told a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia that on March 29, 2013, the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi passed a resolution that a uniform would be prescribed. The uniform did not include hijab and every student wore the uniform.
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Students, who are now the petitioners in the case, took admission to the college in 2021 and complied with the uniform rules initially.
“In 2022, a movement began on social media spearheaded by an organisation called the Popular Front of India. The social media movement was designed to create agitation based on religious feelings of the people,” SG Tushar Mehta told the bench.
On March 15, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the pleas filed by some Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom. The high court held that hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice under Islam which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.
