Police' zeal to serve political masters can break up federalism, warns P Chidambaram
New Delhi, May 7: Police serving their political masters will lead to the "ultimate breakdown" of federalism and the autonomy of police must stop at the border of another state, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Saturday, a day after BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police.
Bagga was arrested by Punjab police from his home in Delhi on Friday, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab, and brought back to the national capital by the Delhi Police hours later, concluding a Friday of dramatic events that drew in police of three states.
Reacting to the developments, Chidambaram said, "This was bound to happen someday. Punjab, Delhi, and Haryana police confrontation is an example of what lies in store in the future."
"Police serving their respective political masters will lead to the ultimate breakdown of federalism that is already in peril," the former home minister said in a series of tweets.
"I had warned when the Assam police arrested Mr Jignesh Mevani MLA for a tweet posted in Gujarat!" he said.
He stressed that the "autonomy" of each state police force must stop at the border of another state and the police of the first state must take the consent of the other state before venturing into its jurisdiction.
Otherwise, federalism will be dead and buried," Chidambaram said.
Bagga, also the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BYJM), was on Saturday provided security cover by Delhi Police, after he expressed threat to his life.
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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.
