Hijab not a major issue in coastal Karnataka poll campaign

The controversial issue of Muslim girls wearing ‘hijab’ in educational institutions, which had hit national headlines last year with a government pre-university college in Udupi banning it inside classrooms, does not appear to be a serious campaign issue for the 10 May elections to the Karnataka Assembly.
The BJP government in the state had in an order last year banned wearing of hijab inside campuses after the controversy broke out, saying ‘any clothing that would disturb equality, integrity and public law and order’ will not be allowed.
Students were directed to wear only the uniforms prescribed for them in schools and PU colleges.
The order was passed after several hijab-wearing girls in the state were denied entry into educational institutions wearing hijab. The move had led to widespread protests across the country.
The Karnataka High Court upheld the government order after a few Muslim girl students moved the court. The judgement was then challenged before the Supreme Court, which subsequently delivered a split verdict in October. The matter will be later heard by a larger bench.
BJP’s poster boy of the hijab row, Yashpal Suvarna, is now the party’s candidate for the Udupi Assembly constituency. When the row broke out, he was vice-president of the development committee of the Udupi government PU college for women.
The incumbent MLA Raghupati Bhat, who was president of the committee, was replaced by Suvarna, a Mogaveera (fishermen community) leader and firebrand activist who has a strong support base among the party cadre