Bengaluru, May 13 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s IT Cell In-charge and West Bengal Co-Incharge, Amit Malviya, on Wednesday accused the Congress government in Karnataka of withdrawing the February 5, 2022, order on school uniform and allowing the use of hijab in schools under the guise of permitting “limited traditional and faith-based religious symbols”.

In a statement, Malviya alleged that the state government had made the move “surreptitiously” through a new government circular.

He claimed that points 3 and 4 of the government circular, while speaking about preserving school uniforms, explicitly permitted religious symbols and headscarves inside educational institutions.

“This is not empowerment. This is the institutionalisation of religious identity in classrooms and the slow burial of childhood under layers of dogma,” Malviya said.

He added that schools and colleges should remain spaces where students grow “free, curious and equal”, and accused political parties of reinforcing divisions for vote bank politics.

“Schools must be spaces where young minds grow free, curious and equal, not where political parties reinforce separateness for vote-bank politics,” he said.

Targeting the Congress-led state government, Malviya alleged that it was not genuinely concerned about Muslim girls but was instead attempting to appease conservative elements for electoral gains.

“The Congress doesn’t care about Muslim girls. It only cares about pandering to the most regressive impulses if it helps consolidate votes,” he added.

Malviya also questioned the timing of the government circular, referring to a recent incident involving the alleged cutting of a sacred thread (‘Janeu’) in a school.

“Weeks after an incident involving the alleged cutting of a sacred thread (Janeu) in a school, instead of enforcing neutrality and discipline uniformly, the state government has chosen appeasement,” he claimed.

Reiterating his opposition to religious symbols in classrooms, Malviya said, “Uniform means uniform. Classrooms are for education, not religious signalling.”

The Karnataka government on Wednesday withdrew its February 5, 2022, order on school and college uniforms and issued fresh guidelines permitting students to wear “limited traditional and faith-based symbols” along with prescribed uniforms in educational institutions across the state.

–IANS

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