JABALPUR: Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party president VD Sharma on Wednesday said the country will run on the basis of the Constitution and not by 'Sharia' or Islamic law, comments coming in the wake of a raging controversy over wearing hijabs in schools in Karnataka.
Sharma was responding to a media query here on wearing hijabs or headscarves in educational institutions in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
"Desh Bharat ke samvidhan aur kanoon se chalega yeh Sharia ke kanoon se nahi chalega (The country will run according to the Constitution and Indian laws, and not by Sharia)," he said.
The BJP leader said schools and colleges are places for personality development and excellence in studies.
Therefore, the so called 'custodians of faith' (who propagate hijab wearing) will not be allowed to put in practice their plan in Madhya Pradesh, he said.
"There is no place for persons wanting to spoil the environment in educational campuses. The Madhya Pradesh government is committed to work on the slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' (together with all, development of all)," Sharma dded.
State government spokesman and Home Minister Narottam Mishra has already clarified that there was no proposal to ban hijab in educational institutions in Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, twenty women were booked here for carrying out a protest rally in favour of hijab without permission, police here said on Wednesday.
The protest was held on Sunday and a video of it was also found circulating on social media today.
The video purportedly showed a few cops, male and female, using batons to disperse the protesting women.
The rally was held in Shani Bazaar market of Navneet Vihar colony, Circle officer, Indirapuram, Abhay Kumar Mishra said.
He said the Muslim women protesters did not have permission for the demonstration and were in violation of the section 144 in force in the area.
The protest was not organised under banner of any outfit and police are investigating the principal actors behind the act, Mishra said.
Mumbai police detained AIMIM leader Waris Pathan while he was going to attend a protest organised by his party's women wing in suburban Malad in support of Muslim students in the Karnataka hijab row, an official said on Wednesday.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader was detained by the Worli police and taken to the police station in the afternoon and was released later, the senior police official said.
Pathan, who is national spokesperson of the party, said in his tweet, "I have been put under House arrest by Mumbai Police at my Worli residence as I was supposed to attend a peaceful protest organised by AIMIM Mumbai Women's Unit at malad mumbai against #Hijab Ban. Is democracy left under MVA govt rule?"
In another tweet, he said, "After my announcement of peaceful protest at Malad, Malwani against #hijab ban in Karnataka, Mumbai Police put me under house arrest in the morning & has now arrested me. Is participating in a peaceful protest Crime now @mumbaipolice?"