Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that controversies around Muslims students being banned from wearing the hijab in college and the sale of halal meat in the state were unnecessary, reported The Indian Express.
“I am not going to support such things,” Yediyurappa told the newspaper ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. “According to me, Hindus and Muslims should live like brothers and sisters. From the beginning, I have taken this stand.”
The Assembly polls in Karnataka will take place in a single phase on May 10. The results will be announced on May 13.
Last year, the Karnataka government issued an order asking students to only wear the uniform prescribed at their schools and pre-university colleges. If a uniform was not prescribed, it asked students not to wear any clothing that would disturb “equality, integrity and public law and order”.
This order was passed after several hijab-wearing girls in the state were denied entry into their educational institutions. The move had led to widespread protests across the country.
On March 15, the Karnataka High Court upheld the government order. The judgement was then challenged before the Supreme Court, which subsequently delivered a split verdict in October. The court is yet to form a larger bench to hear the matter.
Several Hindutva organisations in Karnataka had also carried out campaigns to boycott halal meat last year. “Halal” is the Arabic word for “permissible”. Halal meat, which is sanctified by Islamic law, involves killing an animal by cutting the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe.
On Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party nominated Yashpal Suvarna – one of the most incendiary voices in the Karnataka hijab ban controversy – as its candidate for the Udupi constituency. He had said that the six girl students who moved court against the government’s hijab ban order were “terrorists”.
On Friday, Yediyurappa responded to allegations against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for not attending church events despite invitations, reported The Indian Express.
“I used to go for Christian and Muslim programs,” the former chief minister said. “Even to other community programs. Bommai also used to go. He should have gone to these events if they had invited him. We must give more importance to such programs.”
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