In what was called an “emergency” press conference last week, Karnataka’s Minister for School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa announced the rollback of the 2022 order on uniforms in schools and pre-university colleges. The controversial order of the previous BJP government had led to hijab-donning girls being barred from entering classrooms. It started with six Muslim girls in hijab being prevented from entering their classroom in the coastal town of Udupi, spread quickly across the State, and reached the High Court and eventually the Supreme Court.

Though the rollback was a manifesto promise of the Congress, the government had been dragging its feet on it for nearly three years. In fact, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had a few months after the party’s stellar victory in 2023 elections made a public announcement that people can “wear whatever they want, eat whatever they want”, only to clarify the next day that no formal order had been issued and the government was only considering revocation after discussion with officials.

The rather sudden announcement of the rollback has come in between two significant political developments. It came soon after the Congress managed a narrow victory in the bypolls to Davanagere South, a constituency with a significant Muslim population. The run-up to the bypolls had seen an intense push by Muslim leaders for the Congress to field a candidate from the community, but to no avail. Following this, there were allegations of anti-party activity leading to the suspension of MLC Abdul Jabbar from the primary membership of the Congress and the removal of Naseer Ahmed from his post as Chief Minister’s political secretary. It also came just ahead of “Karnataka Muslim Empowerment and Accountability Summit” to seek answers from the Congress on the promises to the community made but not kept, the rollback of the uniform rule being one of them. The document released at the convention spoke of the hijab ban as “one of the most painful and visible symbols of exclusion faced by Muslim girls in Karnataka.” It cited the People’s Union of Civil Liberties-Karnataka report “Closing the Gates to Education” that documented how hijab restrictions affected Muslim women students’ right to education and dignity.

The carefully-worded new order that came on May 13 (three days prior to the convention) on uniform allows “limited traditional and faith-based symbols” and mentions hijab, turban, janivara (sacred thread), and rudraksha, along with the prescribed uniform. The order also prohibits authorities from compelling students to remove these symbols, which came in the context of some Brahmin students being asked to remove their janivara during the recent Common Entrance Test, the qualifying exam for Engineering courses. The order was a clear balancing act in anticipation of the BJP dubbing it “appeasement politics”. Mr. Madhu Bangarappa was flanked by his Cabinet colleague Dinesh Gundu Rao, a Brahmin, on one side and MLA Rizwan Arshad on the other, as if to further drive home this point.

All this effort, of course, has not prevented the BJP leaders from calling it “appeasement.” Mr. Siddaramaiah has responded to this by asking why allowing the hijab is appeasement, while allowing janivara or turban is not. He also clarified that saffron shawls, which many students (mostly male) wore in protest against hijab being allowed in classrooms back in 2022, would not be allowed in educational institutes. In fact, the order’s emphasis on “limited traditional and faith-based symbols” too seems to anticipate this.

But whether there will be an orchestrated effort for saffron shawls to enter classrooms, along with hijab, remains to be seen. Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who has been expelled from the BJP but remains a Hindutva rabble-rouser, has already said that he would launch a movement to counter hijab by asking students to wear saffron shawls and tilak to school. He even said that whenever teachers call out attendance, students would be asked to respond with a “Jai Sri Ram.”

As schools and colleges are set to reopen for the next academic year, how this will pan out and how firmly the Congress government will handle it remains to be seen. Meanwhile, in the Supreme Court, following a split verdict, the hijab case awaits hearing by a larger bench.