Catholic officials have welcomed the southern Indian Karnataka state relaxing a ban on traditional hijab (head scarf) by allowing Muslim women to wear it while appearing for government recruitment exams.
“There was no need for any such ban and we are happy that the present government has taken steps to relax it,” said Father Faustine Lucas Lobo, spokesperson of Karnataka Catholic Bishops’ Council.
The decision was taken on Oct. 22 at a review meeting attended by Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who goes by one name, and Higher Education Minister M C Sudhakar, who are from the ruling Congress party.
Sudhakar told the media that students will “be allowed to write examinations wearing the hijab,” referring to the competitive exams for jobs conducted by the state government.
The ban was imposed in February 2022 when the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading the state government.  The party, however, lost to the Congress party in the May state elections.
The ban order was issued after an altercation between hijab-wearing Muslim students and a mob of hardline Hindu nationalists who objected to “the religious practice inside academic institutions” in January 2022.
The pro-Hindu BJP government’s order prohibited wearing clothes “that disturb equality, integrity and public order in schools and colleges.”
Five Muslim students challenged the constitutionality of the ban in court.