The Politics of Prejudice, Awards in Education
Parinitha Shetty | 10 September 2024 | Deccan Herald
A controversy has emerged in Karnataka over the state government’s decision to withhold the Best Principal’s Award from B G Ramakrishna, principal of Kundapur Government Pre-University College. In February 2022, Ramakrishna had prevented hijab-wearing Muslim students from entering the college gates, citing government rules about uniforms in the classroom. This incident raises several issues about politics in educational institutions.
Firstly, the state government’s decision to name Ramakrishna for the award and later withdraw it is questionable. If it was carelessness that led to this gaffe, then such carelessness can be politically expensive for the Congress government and can appear to be incompetency of governance. On the other hand, if the decision was deliberate, aimed at appeasing the hard-right Hindu vote bank in coastal Karnataka, the Congress party is indistinguishable from other parties accused of polarising communities and exploiting communal divides.
The Congress government has been accused of catering to the Muslim vote bank by supposedly withdrawing the award under pressure from the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). However, a legitimate social concern doesn’t lose its significance because of its political origins. The law that bans hijab-wearing girls from the classroom is both reactionary as well as detrimental to women’s education and women’s emancipation. If the Congress genuinely wants to be seen as a progressive political party that is concerned about the welfare of women, it must be willing to forfeit the electoral gains that could be accrued by following a soft Hindutva policy….