Ex-CM Farooq Abdullah detained under stringent PSA
Srinagar, Sept 16: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has now been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), which enables authorities to detain any individual for two years without trial, sources said on Monday.
The 81-year-old patron of the National Conference has been under house arrest since August 5 when the Centre announced abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into Union territories.
Abdullah has been detained under the PSA, official sources said. The tougher law was slapped on Abdullah on Sunday.
On Monday, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to respond to a plea seeking that the former chief minister be produced before a court.
The petition was filed by Tamil Nadu's MDMK leader Vaiko, seeking Abdullah's release so he could attend an event in Chennai.
Vaiko is said to be a close friend of Abdullah for four decades.
Abdullah's son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and another former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti are also under detention since August 5.
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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.
