Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane on Wednesday wrote to Education Minister Dada Bhuse and requested a ban on the burqa for the students entering the 10th and 12th state board examination centres. He has cited the concerns about potential cheating in his letter.
Reacting to his letter to the education minister, Rane said, "Our government will not tolerate the politics of appeasement. The rules that are applicable to Hindu students, the same should apply to Muslim students as well. Those who want to wear a burqa or hijab can wear it at their homes but at the examination centres, they should write their exams like other students. There have been incidents of cheating and copying in the cases where students were wearing a burqa. All this should not happen in Maharashtra, so I have written a letter to the concerned minister..."
The minister further explained that he wrote the letter to Bhuse due to incidents of cheating and copying during exams involving students wearing burqas. "There have been incidents of cheating and copying, where students were wearing a burqa. All this should not happen in Maharashtra, so I have written a letter to the concerned minister," Rane said.
When asked to react to the opposition and Muslim scholars objecting to the same, he said, "They should go to Pakistan if they want to take exams while wearing a burqa since we have a constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar, not the Sharia law."
(With ANI inputs)