THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Muslim members of Kerala Police would not have the freedom to sport a beard, the state government made it unambiguously clear in the Assembly on Tuesday.
And despite the best efforts by T V Ibrahim, MLA, to impress upon the government to allow the Islamic personnel in the state police to sport a beard, Minority Affairs Minister K T Jaleel was adamant that the demand was not worth heeding.
According to Jaleel, growing facial hair was in no way linked to Islam. He sought to substantiate the claim by pointing out that none of the 18 Muslim League(IUML) MLAs in the state Assembly, including T V Ibrahim sported beards.
“If growing beard had anything to do with religion, wouldn’t the IUML members have sported beards?” he said.
At this juncture, as if to place it on the record, IUML Legislature Party(LP) Leader P K Kunhalikutty said it would be unfair on his part if he did not say that there were several people, who linked sporting beard to their religious faith. Nonetheless, he said whether or not to grow facial hair was purely a matter of personal choice.
Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said it was an unnecessary discussion and Speaker should not allow such discussion to take place in the House.