Will break knee of anyone demanding Cooch Behar state: TMC MLA Udayan Guha
Kolkata, Feb 19: Trinamool Congress MLA Udayan Guha has courted controversy by threatening to break the knee of those demanding separate statehood for Cooch Behar district of West Bengal.
The controversial Dinhata legislator, who had in the past threatened to send musclemen for BJP leaders if they committed "atrocities" on TMC workers, made the latest remark while canvassing for a ruling party candidate in Toofanganj Municipality on Friday evening.
"If anyone raises the demand for a separate Cooch Behar state, he/she will not have his/her knee intact. If anyone takes out a rally supporting Cooch Behar statehood, we will break the knee of that person," Guha said.
Guha's remark was in response to a recent statement by Toofanganj's BJP MLA Malati Rava, who claimed that lack of development by successive Left Front and TMC governments was triggering separatist demands among the people of Cooch Behar.
In response to the Dinhata MLA's statement, Rava said on Saturday, "I dare Udayan Guha to break my leg. We will take out a rally in his constituency soon. Let's see who breaks whose limb."
Criticising the TMC legislator's remark, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, "Guha's comment shows the poor level of TMC's culture which does not go down well with the culture and ethos of West Bengal."
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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.
