India rejects Pak's criticism of flag ceremony at Ram temple
New Delhi (PTI): India on Wednesday strongly rejected Pakistan's criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation at a ceremony in Ayodhya's Ram temple and said the neighbouring country, with a deeply strained record of repression of minorities, has no moral standing to lecture others.
"We have seen the reported remarks and reject them with the contempt they deserve. As a country with a deeply stained record of bigotry, repression, and systemic mistreatment of its minorities," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"Pakistan has no moral standing to lecture others. Rather than delivering hypocritical homilies, Pakistan would do better to turn its gaze inwards and focus on its own abysmal human rights record," he said.
Pakistan had criticised Modi's participation at the flag hoisting ceremony at the Ram temple on Tuesday that marked the formal completion of its construction.
The Pakistan foreign office expressed "deep concern" over the ceremony and referred to construction of the temple at the site of the Babri Mosque and alleged that it is a reflection of pressure on religious minorities in India.
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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.
