Radical elements trying to divide people on communal lines: Farooq Abdullah on hijab row
Srinagar, Feb 13: Asserting that some radical elements were trying to divide the people of the country on communal lines amid the hijab controversy, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said everyone has the right to wear whatever they want and is free to practice his or her religious beliefs.
He also targeted the delimitation commission and said it is totally wrong.
The country is equal for all. You have a right to eat anything, to wear anything till you do not put the integrity of the nation in danger. Everyone has his own religion, Abdullah, who is also a Member of Parliament, told reporters in Pulwama in south Kashmir.
He said the attacks on religion are being done by some radical elements .
These radical elements are trying to divide the people of the country on communal lines so as to win polls. God willing, it will end one day, the NC leader said.
To a query about the delimitation commission, Abdullah said it is totally wrong .
We are preparing our response and will submit that to them (panel) before (Feb) 14. It will come before you as well and you will see what issues we have raised, he said.
The Delimitation Commission, mandated to redraw the assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, was formed in March 2020.
It is headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and has Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the state election commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir as its ex-officio members.
In its draft report shared with its five associated members -- all Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir -- the delimitation panel has proposed an overhaul of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the union territory.
Abdullah, while advocating talks between India and Pakistan, said the friendship between the two countries would break the waves of animosity.
It seems that the relations between India and Pakistan will become better. If there is friendship between the two countries, this wave of animosity will break, the Srinagar Lok Sabha MP.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
