Saffron-clad boys on the one side and slogan-shouting Muslim girls on the other in front of many colleges in Karnataka showed the issue has sharply divided students into two groups. BJP national general secretary CT Ravi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies have been aimed at empowering women regardless of their religion.
“The very purpose of banning the triple talaq was to end the exploitation of Muslim women,” he told ET.
from the party’s policies towards women, a BJP leader said. It was not immediately known if they are doing this more as a local initiative or on some informal orders from leaders. Some legislators, with socialistic roots nursing no strong views, are struggling to save their relationship with Muslim voters in their constituencies. For instance, 17 lawmakers switched over to the BJP in 2019 from the Congress and JD(S) with their own ties with sections of Muslim voters, and Karnataka is set to face the assembly polls next year. The party is concerned that this controversy has come about when it is fighting a tough election in Uttar Pradesh, among others.
“This had been deliberately stoked to influence voters in UP,” Karnataka BJP spokesperson Capt. Ganesh Karnik said.Quite a few lawmakers have started informal interactions with Muslim voters trying to isolate the hijab controversy
