Power TV faces backlash for using misleading photo of Muslim man in Kerala blast coverage
Bengaluru: Power TV, a Kannada news channel, received severe criticism from netizens after it uploaded a misleading photo of a Muslim man, falsely claiming he had surrendered to the police in connection with the blast in Kalamassery, Kerala, on Sunday.
The incident led to the death of one woman and left over 40 people injured. Dominic Martin, not the man in the photo, took responsibility for the blast and surrendered to the police.
Despite Dominic Martin's public declaration, Power TV's web portal continued to display the photo of the unrelated Muslim man for several hours. The portal incorrectly reported that a person named Meenahile, had surrendered to the police. The accompanying image was an old photograph of Kannur police officials detaining a man from Gujarat for carrying dangerous items in his bag while traveling from Mangaluru to Arikodi.
Social media users reacted strongly to the misinformation, condemning the owner and employees of Power TV. They challenged the channel to use their own photos for news coverage related to the Kerala blasts. In response to the intense backlash, Power TV has since rectified the news report and replaced the misleading photo on its web portal.
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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.
