Hijab ban to be ‘lifted’ in India’s Karnataka state

In a surprising move, the Chief Minister of Karnataka said that his government will withdraw the ban on hijab. In a post on X, the CM said a direction has been given to the officials in this regard. He tweeted in Kannada, “I have told (officials) to withdraw the hijab ban.” The Karnataka chief minister also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “dividing people and dividing society on the basis of clothes, dress, caste”. The ban was first imposed by the BJP government in the state’s educational institutions in 2022.