Karnataka bandh: Passengers face harrowing time due to cancellation of flights, bus services
Bengaluru (PTI): As many as 44 flights to and from the Kempegowda International Airport here were cancelled owing to the Karnataka bandh over the Cauvery water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu, airport authorities said on Friday.
Similarly, state transport corporations too cancelled many of their bus services, especially in the Cauvery basin districts of Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar, where the bandh had the most impact. Some passengers had a harrowing time as they missed their flights, buses and trains due to the day-long shutdown. Many passengers were distraught following the cancellation of flights and bus services.
"We cancelled 44 flights today. They include 22 flights to and an equal number of flights from Bengaluru due to the strike," an airport official told PTI.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) said there were only 59.88 per cent bus operations in southern parts of Karnataka.
The worst-hit KSRTC divisions in terms of operations were Mysuru and Chamarajanagar.
Against the scheduled departure of 447 buses, only seven plied in Mysuru while in Chamarajanagar, eight out of 247 bus services operated.
Mandya, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru witnessed 37.25 per cent, 51.49 per cent and 57.39 per cent operations, respectively, against the scheduled departures.
Bus stands and railway stations in southern Karnataka and the airport in Bengaluru wore a deserted look. Farmers and pro-Kannada organisations staged protests outside the airport as well.
A group from pro-Kannada organisations gathered near the arrival gate of Kempegowda International Airport here to register their protest over the Cauvery water dispute. They started raising slogans following which they were taken into preventive detention by the Bengaluru Police.
"We have taken 12 people into preventive detention. They had gathered at the airport premises to register their protest over the Cauvery water dispute. They were detained and taken into preventive detention," a senior police officer said.
Similarly, agitation took place at bus stations where the activists staged demonstrations and raised slogans holding banners, posters and placards.
The agitators blocked many roads in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar leading to a chaotic situation.
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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.
