Babri Masjid demolition case: Special CBI court issues summons to Kalyan Singh
Lucknow: A special CBI court here has issued summons to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Kalyan Singh, directing him to appear before it on September 27 in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case.
The court is conducting the trial of accused persons, including BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and others for allegedly conspiring to demolish the mosque at the disputed Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya.
Taking note of the information given by the members of the Bar association that Singh's term as Rajasthan governor expired in the first week of this month, special judge S K Yadav on Saturday passed the order on a pending application that the CBI had moved on September 9.
After serving a full five-year term as governor, the 87-year-old leader, who was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992, rejoined the BJP on September 9.
The court had taken up the application and asked the CBI to produce papers that the term of Singh as the governor has expired. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had then sought time to produce the papers, saying it did not receive any documents from its headquarters.
On the information given by the members of bar association, the court issued the summons to Singh for appearing before it on Friday.
Moving the application, the CBI pleaded that Singh was chargesheeted in 1993. It further pleaded that the Supreme Court had in April 2017 said Singh could not be brought in as an accused to face trial due to the constitutional immunity granted to governors under Article 361 of the Constitution.
The top court had, however, allowed the CBI to move for summoning of Singh as an accused as soon as he ceased to be the governor.
All the accused are on bail in the case, the trial of which is being conducted on a day-to-day basis, on the directions of the apex court.
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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.
