Hijab Row: Hijab wearing woman will one day be PM of India, says Asaduddin Owaisi

Keeping the pot boiling amid the Karnataka hijab row and the Uttar Pradesh Assemby polls, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday posted a video on his Twitter handle where he claimed that someday a hijab wearing woman would be the prime minister of the country.

The post comes a day ahead of high schools across Karnataka up to class 10 are set to reopen while the Udupi district administration has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in areas around all high schools in the district from Monday till 19 February.

The tweet

In the 43-second video, the AIMIM chief said that when women want to wear hijabs nobody can stop them. He added that women wearing hijabs will go to college, become district collectors, magistrates, doctors, businesswomen and someday "perhaps I will not be alive to witness it but a hijab wearing women will become the prime minister of the country."

The comments were made by Owaisi while campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in Sambhal district.

The response

According to an India Today report, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister and BJP leader Dinesh Sharma, responding to Owaisi's comments, said,: "The Opposition is conspiring to spread communalism in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party's B team is the AIMIM. The fragrance of development is in the state, there is no place for the foul smell of communalism."

Past remarks

This is not the first occasion where Owaisi has dragged the hijab row from Karnataka to Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, after refusing to take Z plus-category security after his convoy was fired at in early February, Owaisi said he had denied Z plus security offered by the home ministry because if Muslim girls like Muskan were under threat in the country, then Owaisi too was also in danger.

The hijab row

The controversy in Karnataka erupted in January, when six Muslim girls at state-run Udupi Women's Pre-University college were allegedly not allowed to enter the classroom wearing the hijab. Rudra Gowda, the principal of the college, who allegedly did not allow them to wear hijab in classrooms, said he had done so to ensure uniformity in classrooms.

Later, right-wing groups in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru objected to hijabs and the protests spread across the state. In retaliation, many students turned up in saffron scarves and Dalit students adopted blue scarves in support of hijab-wearing girls.

The  issue has now not only spread to other states including Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur but is also being heard by the high court.

Current status

The Karnataka High Court is slated to hear the case on Monday. According to an Indian Express report, in an interim order, the court restrained students from wearing any religious attire in classrooms of colleges where such attire is prohibited until a final order is given in the case.

Karnataka police, meanwhile, have held flag marches in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts as part of preventive measures in communally-sensitive areas.

With input from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.