– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, ec. 16: Hundreds of Hijab-wearing girl-students were warmly received and facilitated to sit in the gallery of the state assembly to witness the on-going session in Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi. Above all, the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Speaker UT Khader met the Hijabi girls and had memorable photo session with them. The smile and excitement on the faces of the young students was quite obvious. Change of guard and change of heart was all behind the excitement.
The previous BJP government had banned the Hijab; consequently, thousands of Hijab-wanting girls gave up education to uphold their faith. All these years harassment was not confined to students, other teaching and non-teaching hijab-wearing staff were also put to trial.
Maybe the presence of lone lawmaker with Hijab, Kaneez Fatima, wife of former state minister late Qamarul Islam, from Gulbarga ignited a fire among these girls to step into her shoes in the future.
