New Delhi, Feb 7: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday hinted at a radical Islamist outfit operating in the coastal belt of Karnataka for sowing the seeds of the hijab controversy which he said was picked up by national parties for electoral gains. “First of all, the person who has created this problem belongs to some small party which is prevalent in the coastal belt of Karnataka, if I am correct. The seeds of the hijab controversy was sown by this gentleman belonging to that party,” he told a section of the media here.
“Ultimately this was taken by both the parties (BJP and Congress) to get political advantage in the run up to the next election. They feel that it is going to help them, but it is going to distract the political atmosphere in Karnataka,” he said. Both political parties should think over and reach an understanding on the controversy, Gowda said.
He also clarified that the controversy was not created by the students. Earlier, Karnataka Education Minister B C Nagesh lashed out at former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and senior Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah over the hijab controversy. Targetting Rahul Gandhi, he said if the Congress was concerned about future of Muslim female students, the Maharashtra government should move the Supreme Court to challenge a Maharashtra court verdict banning hijab in classrooms.
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday had said that letting a student’s hijab come in the way of education is like robbing the future of the daughters of India. “Mehbooba must (say) what rights Muslim female students in Kashmir enjoyed in educational institutions until the repeal of Article 370 in J&K… Mehbooba does not have moral rights to advise Karnataka,” he said.
