Manipur's violence-hit people, seeking to return home, clash with security forces
Imphal (PTI): Hundreds of displaced people, seeking to return to their homes, clashed with security forces in Manipur's Imphal East district on Saturday, officials said.
The displaced people, who have been staying at different relief camps after ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, were stopped by security forces at Yaingangpokpi when they were marching towards their homes at Gwaltabi, located on the periphery of the district.
As the situation escalated, security forces lobbed several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the agitators.
One of the agitators, S Ibemcha Devi, said, "According to the government, normalcy has been restored in the state. Then, why are we not allowed to return to our homes?"
An official said the situation continues to remain tense but under control.
Such clashes between internally displaced persons (IDPs) and security forces have happened multiple times since the Sangai Festival began on November 21.
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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.
