The Congress government in Karnataka has said there will not be any restrictions on hijab for candidates taking the upcoming recruitment tests for state government services.

State education minister M.C. Sudhakar said the candidates writing the Karnataka Examination Authority tests, to be held on October 28 and 29 to fill vacancies in government departments, were free to wear the hijab. The KEA follows NEET guidelines, which allow religious garb such as the hijab, the minister clarified.

Sangh parivar groups are clamouring for a ban on the hijab, a headscarf that many Muslim girls wear.

“I think the people who are protesting should verify the guidelines of NEET exams. I don’t know why they are making an issue out of this. NEET exams allow people to wear hijab,” Sudhakar told reporters on Monday.

The KEA is the state government body that conducts entrance exams for professional courses and recruitment tests to fill vacancies in government departments and various state boards.

The hijab became a contentious issue in Karnataka in 2022 when the then BJP government empowered educational institutions to prescribe uniforms, seen as a de facto ban since no state-run educational institution would dare to defy the Sangh parivar push to ban hijab in classrooms.

The minister’s clarification came as Sangh parivar outfit Hindu Janajagruti Samithi sought police permission to hold a protest in Bangalore on Wednesday against allowing the hijab.

“Our main objection is that allowing hijab would be in contempt of the Karnataka High Court order that upheld the ban on hijab in educational institutions,” the group’s district coordinator Sharath Kumar told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

The high court in March 2022 had upheld the right of government-run educational institutions to enforce the wearing of uniforms in classrooms.

The order had come after an institution in Udupi denied hijab-wearing girls entry into class on the grounds that the hijab was not part of the uniform, sparking months of protest and a legal challenge.

The incident was followed by a state-wide ban on hijab in classrooms.

When told that the judgment only concerned state-run educational institutions that have a prescribed uniform and not recruitment exams, Kumar argued that it would cover all examinations.

“Will the government allow candidates to wear saffron shawls to appear for the exams? That’s why we feel dragging students and candidates writing such exams into unnecessary controversies doesn’t augur well for anyone,” he countered.