Hijab row: Every school has right to insist on particular type of uniform, says Kerala BJP vice president

Kochi (Kerala) [India], February 16 : Amid the ongoing hijab row, Kerala BJP vice president KS Radhakrishnan on Wednesday said that every school has the right to insist on a particular form of uniform and uniforms are used everywhere in India.
Radhakrishnan said that dress jihad leads to division in society which cannot be permitted.
Radhakrishnan said, "We are concerned with secular education. There are many systems of education. There are the religious education systems, especially the Madrassa education system where you can practice religious practices and the religious aspects. You can insist on the dress code there of your choice as Article 26 and 27 gives you the right to practice a religion of your conscience and to get educated in that religion."
"You can practice such a system of education in Madrassa or in the Sunday schools or in the mutts established by Hindu and other communities. Nothing wrong with it. And nobody interferes with your right to select a uniform of your choice. But this is something related to secular education. That means we are not providing religious education in schools instead of that we are providing the basic subjects for the students. So there should be a uniform pattern there," the BJP leader said.
He said every school has the right to insist on a particular form of uniform.
He said there is no logic in making an argument that whenever uniforms are prescribed for students, the religious sentiments should be respected and the students should be permitted to wear the dress of their religious practices.
The BJP leader said there are reasonable legal and logical regulations. The dress habit is part of the reasonable legal and logical regulations to be implemented in educational institutions and that should be appreciated and accepted by all.
"The present dress jihad is not the present one. It has been in India for the last three or four decades. And if everyone insist that, can you permit them to practice in the military force, in the police force, in the uniformed force? Suppose a teacher comes on burkha, what would be the fate of the students? So the dress jihad leads to division in society. That cannot be permitted. If there is a secular education, there must be secular dress habits. And that should be accepted by all students," Radhakrishnan emphasized.
The hijab controversy began in Karnataka in January this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state alleged that they had been barred from attending classes. During the protests, some students claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab.
Following this incident, students of different colleges arrived at Shanteshwar Education Trust in Vijayapura wearing saffron stoles. The situation was the same in several colleges in the Udupi district.
The pre-University education board had released a circular stating that students can wear only the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious practices will be allowed in colleges.