Unease in BJP sections, attempt to dial down

The Karnataka government’s indication of a rethink over its school uniform order, the BJP’s dancing from the MP education miner’s remarks on a “uniform dress code,” come amid a growing unease in the senior BJP leadership over how the “hijab row” is playing out.
Sources said that there is a sense that the Karnataka government and the state BJP allowed protests a “small group of students at some pre-university colleges” in Udupi to spread, reach the high court and acquire a national dimension.

Deepening the discomfort in a section of the leadership have been images and videos of young women going to class with a crowd of protesting men behind them, schoolgirls and even teachers forced to remove their head scarves, some being told to go home from the school-gates.
“This comes at a time when we play up Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, when the PM highlights his government’s triple talaq ban as a step for empowering Muslim women,” said a Union miner.
In Delhi, senior BJP leaders have refused to be drawn on the issue. In the Lok Sabha, when the Opposition raised the matter, not many BJP MPs came forward, except Kolar representative S Muniswamy. Even Tejasvi Surya, who has a record of speech criticised as inflammatory, has been quiet.
In Tripura, the education miner struck a note of concern and in NDA-ruled Bihar, Chief Miner Nitish Kumar said the hijab wasn’t an issue in Bihar where religious sentiments were respected. The education miner of BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh, Govind Singh Thakur, said nothing is being actively considered on a uniform dress code in schools so far.

Another BJP leader said the party was apprehensive of the issue blowing up into an agitation like the anti-CAA protests which, too, had Muslim women at the forefront. “Despite its initial enthusiasm and propaganda over the CAA, the government has not yet made rules for the law passed in December 2019,” the leader pointed out.
There is another key difference, say sources. Unlike the CAA, which is about a law, this is seen as directly linked to faith and family. When more Muslim girls are going to schools and colleges than ever, a code like this may affect that, a leader said.

The miner added that ways had been discussed on how to resolve the Karnataka issue. “There have been suggestions that the state take the stand that girls could use the dupattas that are a part of the uniform to cover their heads. The leadership seems to be keen on finding a middle path instead of being seen as hardliners on this,” the miner said.
“Delhi (the national leadership of the BJP) doesn’t like it when a state creates controversy, lets it flare up and then throws it into the lap of the national leadership to resolve,” a party leader said.
A source said the feeling in Delhi was that the hijab row in Karnataka was “a spark that could have been put off, instead of letting it kindle.”
Those close to Karnataka Chief Miner Basavaraj Bommai say it is unfair to blame him, and the onus lies with the party state unit. “What did they do to douse the fire? They were not even present to defend the government,” said a leader. Bommai, whose position within the faction-ridden BJP is shaky, does not have much command over the party cadre, the leader pointed out. “But finally it was he who told them to not fan the fires.”

In Madhya Pradesh, both Chief Miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his hardliner Home Miner Narottam Mishra danced themselves from remarks Education Miner Inder Singh Parmar on a uniform dress code. While Chouhan is believed to have pulled up miners at a Cabinet meeting and told them not to comment without consulting the government, Parmar later said there was no plan regarding a uniform code.
Mishra made his displeasure clear over the heckling of two hijab-wearing women right-wing groups on a college campus in Datia, his native place and constituency. With over 23,000 Muslim voters in the seat, Mishra called the town a living example of “communal harmony”, and asked the drict collector to enquire why the college had issued an order against religious attire.
A senior party leader, who is also an office-bearer, admitted there was a direction from the senior leadership not to amplify the hijab issue. “It was never a BJP issue, the party never wanted to create this issue. It’s a local fight,” the leader said. Another party MP from Madhya Pradesh confirmed instructions to stay away.

In what seems like a complete turnaround from the initial Parmar remarks, BJP state media in-charge Lokendra Parashar now says women should decide what they want to wear: “it is their issue”. “The dress code is already in place. We just want to empower the women so that they can make an independent decision on whether they should or should not wear a hijab… School is not a place where religion should be a point of discussion, schools are to impart education, and that alone,” he told The Indian Express.
A state BJP leader said the Central leadership had reacted similarly when party workers had opposed girls wearing jeans to colleges. “It did not resonate with the people in Delhi as over 90% girls wear jeans to college. Similarly wearing or not wearing a hijab is not an issue for discussion here in MP,” he said.