Karnataka Congress leader Mukarram Khan has made a threatening statement on hijab that aligns with the ideology of Jihadi Islamists. A video appeared on 17th February 2022 in which Khan was heard saying, “Those stopping our children from wearing hijab will be cut to pieces.”
The Karnataka hijab row is still going on with students breaching the interim orders of the Karnataka high court prohibiting religious attires inside the educational campus. Students have continued to wear a hijab and burqa while going to college, however, the colleges are not allowing them to enter. The statement given by the Karnataka Congress leader has now added to the unrest in the state.
Mukarram Khan is a former Zilla Panchayat member from Sedam in the Kalaburagi district of Karnataka. In his controversial statement given in support of the pro-hijab protests going on in the state, he has said “What clothes are they wearing? They are wearing saffron clothes and asking our children to remove the hijab, restricting them from wearing a hijab. Those stopping our children from wearing hijab will be cut to pieces.”
Those stopping our children from wearing Hijab will be cut to pieces: Congress leader Mukarram Khan pic.twitter.com/Win5sun8LP
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) February 17, 2022
Hindu organizations have protested against this statement by Khan. They agitated outside the Sedam police station in the Kalaburagi district. They demanded a case be registered and strict action against Mukarram Khan. VHP Organizational Secretary of the district Sivakumar has filed a complaint against Mukarram Khan. He has reportedly said “The person who has made a hatred instigating remark must not be spared. We can also talk as aggressively but we restrain taking care that our words should not cause any unrest in the society.”
The Karnataka hijab row has also caused various incidents of unrest and political reaction in other states including poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. CM Yogi Adityanath has said in an interview that in personal life, everyone can wear the clothes they want but the institutes that require a specific dress code as a part of discipline cannot be the places to assert the religious identity through the attires.
