Five held for attempting to block Karnataka CM's car
Kannur: Five activists belonging to the ruling CPI(M) and Opposition Congress' youth wings, have been arrested in connection with the incidents relating to waving of black flags and attempting to block Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's car at nearby Pazhayangadi.
While three belong to the CPI(M)'s Students Federation of India (SFI), two are from the Youth Congress, police said on Wednesday. The five have been arrested and remanded to 14 days judicial custody, they said.
Cases under various IPC sections, including 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging of his duty and unlawful assembly, have been charged against the five.
Police had taken into custody 28 workers belonging to SFI, DYFI, Youth Congress and KSU in connection with waving of black flags, raising slogans and attempting to stop the car of Karnataka Chief Minister at Pazhayangadi on Tuesday.
Of these, five were arrested and remanded while the remaining were let off on station bail, a police official said.
The activists were protesting the "illegal" detention of Kerala journalists in Mangaluru last week while covering the death of two people in police firing during the agitations over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
The BJP has alleged that it was a "planned" attack by "Communist goons". The activists surrounded the CM's car, raised slogans and tried to stop the vehicle. Some of them came in front of the vehicle, but were removed by police. Yediyurappa was on his way to Madayikavu temple when the incident occurred.
On Monday too, he had faced an attempted black flag protest by Youth Congress activists in Thiruvananthapuram.
The senior BJP leader, on a personal visit to temples and religious places in Kerala, termed the attempt to block his car as a "conspiracy by vested interests" and a 'heinous' act and said it was wrong to blame all Keralites for it.
BJP had accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government of failure to provide adequate security cover to the visiting Chief Minister and said the incident was "planned".
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BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India: Mamata
Cooch Behar (WB) (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into pieces".
The TMC will fight this Central government's move at every step, she asserted at her party's poll rally here.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, to implement the proposed amended women's quota law, in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
According to the Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Opposing the Centre's move, Banerjee alleged that "the BJP brought the Delimitation Bill while keeping the women's reservation bill at the front".
"The BJP is trying to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to nearly 850 through the Delimitation Bill. It will break the country into pieces," the TMC supremo said.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking the truth about the development of north Bengal at a BJP rally last week.
"The prime minister said nothing was done for the development of north Bengal. But we spent Rs 1.72 lakh crore on the development of the region," Banerjee said and asked Modi to cross-check data before making such remarks.
