Security stepped up outside Javed Akhtar's Mumbai residence; BJP seeks apology over his remark
Mumbai, (PTI): Security was beefed up outside the residence of writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar in Mumbai on Monday after a Maharashtra BJP MLA demand an apology from him over his remark where he allegedly compared the RSS with the Taliban, a police official said.
Adequate police bandobast was placed outside Akhtar's residence near the ISKCON temple in Juhu area, the official said, adding that security personnel, including women constables, were deployed outside the lyricist's home.
Akhtar recently told a news channel that right wing all over the world has an uncanny similarity.
"The Taliban want an Islamic country. These people want to make a Hindu Rashtra," the lyricist said without naming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
BJP MLA and state party spokesperson Ram Kadam condemned Akhtar's remark.
The legislator from Mumbai said no film involving Akhtar will be allowed to be screened in the country until he apologises to Sangh functionaries over his comments.
The Shiv Sena, which shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, on Monday said Akhtar was "completely wrong" in comparing the RSS with the Taliban.
"How can you say those who favour the concept of a Hindu Rashtra are of Talibani mindset? We don't agree with this," an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
