Sabarimala pilgrims from Tamil Nadu sustain injuries as bus overturns in Idukki
Idukki (Kerala) (PTI): Around 50 Ayyappa devotees from Tamil Nadu were injured after a bus in which they were travelling overturned at Kollam-Theni National Highway near here on Thursday, Fire and Rescue Service officials said.
The condition of one passenger is critical, while others suffered minor injuries in the accident that took place between Kuttikkanam and Valanjakanam, they added.
Officials at the Peermade fire station said the accident occurred around 5.45 am, when the bus carrying devotees from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu was on its way to Sabarimala.
The bus driver failed to manoeuvre a tight curve, and the vehicle lost control and overturned. Police and fire force personnel soon reached the place and rescued the passengers, who were shifted to a private hospital in Mundakayam, Kottayam district. Later, using a crane, the bus was shifted off the road to restore the traffic.
Police officials at Peermade station said that other state bus drivers, due to overspeeding, often fail to negotiate the curves in the National Highway stretch, leading to accidents. Police have launched a detailed probe into the incident.
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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.
