New Delhi: The controversy that initially sparked over wearing hijab or burqa in educational institutions by several students, doesn’t seem to slow down in the state too soon.
After the Karnataka High Court order dismissed pleas against the ban on Hijab in educational institutes, a temple in Shivmogga restricted the traders of the Muslim community from setting up shops inside its premises during Kote Marikamba Jatra festival.
Now in a similar course, several saffron outfits have called for the boycott of halal meat products ahead of the Ugadi celebrations in Karnataka.
Observed across several parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, Ugadi is a New Year celebration, wherein meat is traditionally consumed a day after celebrating the festival.
A Hindu activist group Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has also launched a nationwide campaign, demanding a ban on Halal products.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary CT Ravi in his statement on Tuesday said, “Halal is an economic jihad. It has been put in place so that Muslims don’t do business with others, which has been forced upon them”.
“How they (Muslims) feel that halal has to be imposed, the same way it is not wrong for others (right-wing groups) to say not to use it”, he further added.
CM Bommai reacts to controversy
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said in a press conference on Wednesday, “The state government will have to study (the issue) in its entirety. It has nothing to do with rules. It was a practice that was going on. Now, serious objections are raised. We will take a look into it”.
When asked about the campaigns launched by some Saffron outfits demanding a ban on halal meat, Bommai said, “The state government was not swayed by the demands of right-wing groups. There is no right-wing or left-wing for the government”.
