The Congress party subsequently went silent over the issue as the BJP made a counter-attack, saying the Congress leaders instigated the minority community girls.
New Delhi: Congress party, whose politics is guided by self-seeking vote bank agenda, is divided on Hijab row. This, of course, displays only sheer opportunism.
A BJP leader from Karnataka and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, "….There is a division within the Congress party itself on Hijab. There is one group that feels that a pro-Hijab stance must not be taken and that doing so would result in political damage."
The Congress, which always plays lip service to 'secularism' and instead promotes a fake agenda of the same – rather called 'sickularism – is now caught in a dilemma over 'supporting' Muslim community. Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent of Karnataka's population, and hence the Congress leaders presume they can play smart games keeping Muslims happy on one side and keep wooing Hindus.
Karnataka, now under BJP rule, goes to the polls in April-May 2023. The BJP leaders in the state have already started to corner the Congress party.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, an import from Janata Dal, has said earlier this month "at the behest of the party's Muslim leaders" that restrictions imposed on Hijab in schools and colleges were intended to curb the Muslim girl education.
The Congress party subsequently went silent over the issue as the BJP made a counter-attack, saying the Congress leaders instigated the minority community girls.
Not long ago, a Muslim Congress legislator Zameer Ahmed spoke in "favour of the Hijab" as being essential in Islam, but he was "pulled up" and even forced to tender an apology by the party leadership. "We have asked everyone not to comment on the issue," KPCC president D. K. Shivakumar said.
The Karnataka Congress has decided to reach out to the BJP government in the state and especially Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to resolve the issue so that it can keep its Muslim vote bank and also win over the support base of Hindus. The party has also authorised its Muslim leaders–Saleem Ahmed, U T Khader, Zameer, Tanvir Sait, Rizwan Arshad and N A Haris to take up the matter with Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai and also Education Minister B C Nagesh.
While Congress came down to 40 from 122 in the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP strength went from 40 (in 2013) to 104.
