Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane has written to Maharashtra Education Minister Dada Bhuse requesting that no student should be allowed to enter the 10th and 12th Maharashtra Board examination centres wearing ‘burqa’.
The BJP leader cited concerns about potential cheating.
Talking to ANI, Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane said, “Our government will not tolerate the politics of appeasement. The rules that are applicable to Hindu students, the same should apply to Muslim students as well.”
“Those who want to wear a burqa or hijab can wear it at their homes but at the examination centres, they should write their exams like other students. There have been incidents of cheating and copying in the cases where students were wearing a burqa. All this should not happen in Maharashtra, so I have written a letter to the minister concerned,” Nitesh Rane informed.
(Mint could not verify the authenticity of the claim that students caught cheating were necessarily wearing burqas)
Countering BJP leader NItesh Rane’s move, Congress leader Husain Dalwai told ANI, “The fact that the girls are studying should be welcomed, no matter if they wear Burqa or not… Forceful behaviour is absolutely wrong… It is against the law to hinder their rights to give examinations… It is their traditions and this should not be violated, instead, they will themselves learn about what is necessary and what is not…”
Burqa ban in India’s educational institutions
Karnataka: In February 2022, the Karnataka government implemented a ban on hijabs in schools and colleges, leading to widespread protests among Muslim students advocating for their right to wear religious attire.
The situation escalated when Hindu students began staging counter-protests, demanding the right to wear saffron scarves, which further complicated the discourse around religious expression in educational settings.
The Karnataka High Court ultimately upheld the ban, ruling that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam. The decision has drawn criticism both domestically and internationally. However, when the government changed in Karnataka, the Congress downplayed the stricture of the ban on burqa in Karnataka’s educational institutions.
Maharashtra: On August 9, 2024, the Supreme Court stayed a Mumbai college’s directive that prohibited students from wearing hijabs, burqas, caps, and naqabs on campus. While the court allowed the ban on burqas and naqabs, it highlighted the need for a more nuanced approach to religious attire within educational institutions.
