Under the new rules related to school and college dress codes in Karnataka, announced by Minister for School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa on Wednesday (May 13), students can wear turbans, sacred threads, Shiva beads, rudraksha beads, headscarves, and other symbols.

However, the order says these symbols must only complement the prescribed uniform and “should not alter, modify or defeat the basic purpose of the uniform”. 

Addressing the media, Mr. Bangarappa said the issue was brought to him by Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao following an incident in which students writing CET exams were forced to remove the sacred thread. “He (Dinesh Gundu Rao) told me we must take up the matter with the Chief Minister. Such issues, he said, should not crop up as it undermines students’ confidence,” the Minister said. Mr. Rao, along with Rizwan Arshad, Shivajinagar MLA, was present at the press conference.

The new order dated May 13 states that no student can be denied entry into an educational institution, classroom, examination hall or for any academic activity for wearing these permitted symbols along with the prescribed uniform. However, in examinations, any national or State-level dress code rules already in place will continue to apply wherever necessary. 

BJP calls it ‘appeasement’

Following the announcement, Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka said the Karnataka government, “rattled by the political message emerging from the Davangere bypoll” and the growing unease within sections of its minority vote base, has fallen back on its familiar politics of appeasement. 

“In a desperate attempt at damage control, the Siddaramaiah government has chosen to reopen the hijab issue through its latest order on uniforms in educational institutions. It is the same old Congress formula — create political distraction through identity-based decisions, when governance fails,” he said in a post on X. 

Mr. Ashoka called it “a calculated political bribe to appease a specific community that has recently shown its discontent”.

“The Congress party is racing down the same dangerous path that led the TMC in West Bengal to political and social turmoil,” Mr. Ashoka said.

Case in apex court

The larger legal questions linked to the Karnataka hijab case are still pending before the Supreme Court of India. Since the two-judge bench hearing the matter delivered a split verdict and did not reach a final decision, the Constitutional issues raised in the case are yet to be settled by a larger bench.