Congress govt drags its feet on hijab ban, anti-conversion, cow slaughter laws

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: The State government has not gone ahead with three promises that it had made in the lead up to the Assembly elections namely reversing of the ban on hijab in educational institutions, repealing of anti-conversion law and scaling back of the stringent anti-cattle slaughter law.

Party insiders believe that there are two reasons as to why. Firstly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Cabinet don’t want to give the BJP an opportunity to use “communal” talking points in the lead up to the Lok Sabha elections, slated for mid-2024.

Notably, the hijab ban can be ended by withdrawing the relevant Government Order (GO).

Secondly, the State government believes the remaining two promises that are of a legislative nature will be furiously opposed by the BJP and its ally JD(S), especially in the Council where Congress doesn’t have the numbers.

Congress has boosted its numbers in the Council since the Budget session. The party has increased its numbers in the 75-member Council to 29.

However, BJP retains 34 MLCs and ally JD(S) another eight. An independent MLC, the chairman and two vacant seats make up the rest.

The ruling party had pushed through 17 Bills in both Houses, partly with the help of Opposition lawmakers.

CM Siddaramaiah had promised to repeal the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022 (the anti-conversion law) in his second Cabinet meeting back in June.

The Congress had vowed to repeal the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, before the elections.

It is to be noted that the law is stringent as opposed to an earlier law which outlawed slaughter of younger cattle.

The perceived dragging of feet has come into the limelight because of Siddaramaiah disclosing that he would “revoke the hijab ban” during a function in Mysuru last week.

A day later, he diluted his comments, saying that the decision was merely being mooted, apparently reacting to outrage by BJP and their Hindutva compatriots.

Home Minister G Parameshwara and Minister for Law HK Patil have made similar comments.