Fundamentalists hijacked LDF and UDF in Kerala: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday accused Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) of appeasement or acting out of fear toward fundamentalist groups.

Commenting on the row related to the wearing of hijab at the St. Rita’s Public School at Palluruthy in Kerala’s Kochi, Chandrasekhar said here on Thursday that religious fundamentalists in Kerala are hijacking the LDF and UDF and keeping them on their drawn lines. A big example of this is the hijab issue at St. Rita’s Public School at Palluruthy in Kochi , he said.

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The BJP Kerala chief said the LDF and UDF were unwilling to cross the line drawn by the SDPI and instead became spokespeople for the terrorist organization. Even though the school was closed after threatening the nuns and insulting the holy vestments, the state Education Minister Sivankutty is still blaming the school management , he said.

None of the INDI Alliance leaders who took a flight to Chattisgarh were not seen at Palluruthy school, Rajeev Chandrasekhar sarcastically said.

. State general education minister V Sivankutty on Tuesday said that a departmental probe into the row has found “serious faults” on the part of the school authorities.

Sivankutty on Wednesday affirmed the student’s right to wear the hijab . Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday morning, Sivankutty said “The student can attend classes wearing a hijab until she and her parents decide otherwise.” However, he later said the matter should be considered closed if a school-level consensus had been reached.

St.Rita’s Public School at Palluruthy in Kochi, run by the Latin Catholic Church , has declared a two-day holiday following a dispute over a student’s insistence on wearing a hijab. The CBSE-affiliated school announced that it would remain closed on Monday and Tuesday after a meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) decided to suspend classes to ease tensions.

The school resumed functioning on Wednesday even as the school authorities rejected state general education minister V. Sivankutty’s remark that they had refused to permit her to attend classes for wearing a hijab.

An eighth-grade student of the school had demanded to come to school wearing the hijab. However, the school management informed that the hijab would not be allowed and that it was not part of the school uniform. According to sources, tension arose after the student’s parents insisted that their daughter be allowed to wear a hijab.