Stop Harassing Women Over What They Wear, Says Priyanka

Attacking the BJP on the issue of unemployment, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government's first responsibility is to ensure employment but despite the BJP being in power in the state and at the Centre, 63,000 posts are vacant in Himachal Pradesh

Whether it is a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’, a pair of jeans or a ‘hijab’, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday amid the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka.

She asserted that this right is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Incidents of stone pelting and use of force by police were reported on Tuesday as the hijab row in Karnataka escalated and protests by students spread to more colleges, prompting the state government to declare a three-day holiday for all educational institutions.

“Whether it is a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear,” Gandhi tweeted.

“This right is GUARANTEED by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women,” she said using the hashtag ‘ladkihoonladsaktihoon’.

The hijab controversy that first erupted in January at a government PU College in Udupi, where six students who attended classes wearing the headscarf in violation of the stipulated dress code were asked to leave the campus, has spread to different parts of the state with Hindu students too responding by turning up in saffron shawls.

Such saffron-clad students are also being barred from entering classes.

The row has also taken on a political colour as the ruling BJP stood strongly in support of uniform-related rules being enforced by educational institutions, calling the headscarf a religious symbol, while the opposition Congress has come out in support of Muslim girls.