What you wear is your decision, your responsibility: Rahul Gandhi on hijab

'What a woman wants to wear is her business. She should be allowed,' said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in UP's Aligarh Muslim University

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that women's clothing choices, including hijab, should be respected and that no one should dictate what a person should wear. A hijab is a headscarf wrapped around the head by some Muslim women.

Rahul Gandhi made the remarks while interacting with female students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

During the interaction, a girl brought up the recent hijab controversy in Karnataka and asked the former Congress president what his thoughts on it would be if he were the prime minister.

"What a woman wants to wear is her business. She should be allowed. This is my opinion. What you wear is your responsibility. What to wear is your decision. I don't think anyone else should decide what you wear," Rahul Gandhi said.

His comments came after the Congress government in Karnataka allowed students to wear hijab during competitive exams in October last year. The permission reignited the debate around the subject that sparked controversy in 2022.

The hijab controversy

The controversy began in January 2022, when some Muslim students at a government pre-university college in Karnataka's Udupi were denied entry for wearing hijabs, citing a violation of the college's uniform policy. The incident provoked massive protests and counter-protests around the state.

The then-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government responded by issuing an order requiring uniforms in educational institutions with similar regulations, thus prohibiting the wearing of hijabs in these settings. This judgement was contested in court, and on March 15, 2022, the Karnataka High Court upheld the ban.

The court ruled that wearing a hijab is not an "essential religious practice" in Islam; hence, it does not fall under the protection of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which provides the fundamental right to freely practice one's religion.

In October 2022, the Supreme Court issued a split verdict on the petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court order, which refused to overturn a ban on hijabs in educational institutions in the state.

One judge supported the enforcement of a uniform dress code in schools, while another judge maintained that wearing a hijab is a matter of personal choice and underlined the importance of education for girl child, especially in rural areas.

The top court's split verdict means a larger bench will revisit the issue for a final decision.

In December last year, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that his government would withdraw the order banning hijab in schools and colleges in the state.