The Karnataka government has withdrawn its decision to honour the principal who banned hijab after protests from the radical Islamic party SDPI. According to reports, the Karnataka education department had selected Kundapura PU College principal BG Ramakrishna of Udupi district for the ‘Best Principal’ award but now he is not being given this honour. In Karnataka, the education department honours the best principal every year on Teacher’s Day.
SDPI is the political wing of the banned organisation PFI
According to reports, this year two teachers were selected for the ‘Best Principal’ award, including BG Ramakrishna, principal of Kundapura PU college in Udupi and A. Ramegowda, principal of Hunsuru PU college in Mysuru district. As soon as the news came out that Ramakrishna was being given the ‘Best Principal’ award, the radical Islamic party SDPI, the political wing of the banned Islamic organisation PFI, started protesting against it.
Huge uproar over the ‘hijab ban’
BG Ramakrishna, following the rules of PU college, had not allowed the girl students wearing hijab to enter the class in February 2022. After his decision, there was a huge uproar in the entire state regarding the ‘hijab ban’. Ramakrishna said that he was informed by the Education Department on Wednesday that due to technical reasons, he will not be given this award for the time being. He said that he has been told that however his award has not been canceled.
Award not given to avoid controversy
As soon as the news of giving this honour to Ramakrishna came out, SDPI, the political unit of the banned fundamentalist organisation PFI, was the first to protest against it. After the protest by SDPI, many fundamentalist forces and other people became active, after which many posts were posted on social media criticizing the education department. According to sources in the education department, to avoid any controversy, it has been decided not to give the award to Ramakrishna for now.