Asian Games Visa row: Discriminatory approach is against Olympic Charter, says Union Minister
Coimbatore (TN) (PTI): China denying visas to three Indian athletes from Arunachal Pradesh is "discriminatory" and against the Olympic Charter which is not acceptable to India, Union Minister Anurag Thakur has said.
The northeastern state is an integral part of India and would continue to remain so, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs said here, adding that he had cancelled his visit to China while standing with the players.
Female players Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu have been denied accreditation, which also works as a visa for the Asian Games that officially opened on Saturday in Hangzhou.
"As you could see I am not in China, I am in Coimbatore, standing with my players. And this discriminatory approach of a country which is against the Olympic Charter, is not acceptable at all," he told reporters here.
Beijing's move "is not acceptable to India and I have cancelled my trip to China on these grounds as they have denied the opportunity to the players from Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of the Asian Games," Thakur added.
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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.
