Amid the ongoing hijab controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national general secretary, CT Ravi, said that while one is free to wear whatever they want outside educational institutions, the mandated uniforms should be donned in schools. Speaking to ANI, Ravi said, "Uniforms should be donned in schools. You are free to wear whatever you want outside schools."
While commenting on Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's bikini statement, Ravi said, "One can't go to schools and colleges wearing a bikini. It is not right to play politics in schools."
Earlier on Wednesday, February 9, Vadra had lent support to Muslim girls, stating that women have the right to decide what they want to wear. The Congress leader, on her official Twitter handle, said 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."
On Friday, February 11, an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court against the Karnataka High Court's interim order, calling for restraint on students from wearing a hijab or any religious attire as long as the matter is pending with the court.
The hijab protests began on February 4 at the Government Girls PU College in Udupi, Karnataka, when some students alleged that they had been barred from attending classes and denied entry into the college for wearing a hijab.
