No proposal to open colleges for Muslim women, clarifies K’taka CM Bommai

BENGALURU: Dismissing reports that the state government has given consent to the Wakf Board to open colleges for Muslim women students in the state, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that no such proposal exists at any level of his administration.

“The statement by the Karnataka State Wakf Board chairman on opening separate colleges for Muslim women students was only a statement, and there is no such proposal before the government”, Bommai said.

Karnataka Wakf Board chairman Maulana Shafti Saadi had recently said that it has been decided to start 10 colleges for girls in various districts of the state at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore per college, and claimed that the Chief Minister and Endowment and Wakf Minister Shashikala Jolle had given in-principle consent to the project.

On Thursday, Saadi said the discussions were held at the Wakf Board level and the matter has not reached the government yet. “The proposal is still getting ready and will be sent to the government in the days to come”, he noted.

The new colleges will be opened in Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Chikkodi, Nippani, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Bagalkot among other places in the state, he had said, adding that after the hijab controversy, there has been demand from the Muslim community for women colleges to be started by Wakf Board, and they had even met Union Minister for Women & Child Development Smriti Irani in this regard. (ANI)