Bengaluru (PTI): Forty-one members of a pro-Kannada outfit were arrested for allegedly forcing their way into a five-star hotel here in protest against Hindi Diwas event and causing a disturbance, police said on Friday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs' Rajbhasha Samiti had organised a "Hindi Promotion Meeting" at the hotel, attended by six Members of Parliament, when members of the pro-Kannada outfit barged in on Thursday, according to sources.

Raising slogans against the event, the activists alleged that the meeting was an attempt to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.

According to a police statement, the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language had organised a meeting from September 23 to 25 at the hotel on Race Course road here.

On the final day of the meeting, the session commenced at 9.30 am.

"Between approximately 10.45 am and 11 am, about 30 to 40 members of an organisation illegally entered the venue in protest against

the meeting agenda, obstructed the work of government officials present, and created a disturbance. This caused a temporary disruption to the meeting," it stated.

The police immediately arrived at the scene, took the protestors into custody, and brought the situation under control. Consequently, the meeting at the hotel experienced a brief interruption but was completed as planned due to the police's timely intervention.

"A case was registered against the protestors at High Grounds Police Station, and legal action was taken. A total of 41 protestors were arrested and produced before the 1st ACJM Court, which sent them to judicial custody," it added.

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Bengaluru: Congress MLC B. K. Hariprasad has launched a sharp attack on the BJP, accusing the party of hypocrisy over its criticism of alliance politics in Tamil Nadu.

In a post on X on Friday, Hariprasad said BJP leader B. L. Santhosh criticising the Congress party’s alliance politics in Tamil Nadu was “not just laughable, but the height of political contradiction.”

He said the Congress has always joined hands with like-minded parties to protect secular and democratic values in the country.

Hariprasad questioned the BJP over several of its past and present alliances across the country. Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar and Maharashtra, he accused the BJP of sharing power with parties it had earlier criticised.

He alleged that the BJP had aligned with separatist and corruption-linked political forces in different states for political gains.

“The BJP, which speaks against alliances today, should first look at its own political history,” he said, adding that the party’s record was full of “contradictions and changing stands.”

Hariprasad also accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and CBI as political tools to target opposition leaders, topple governments and influence electoral mandates.

He further claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu had strongly rejected the BJP and its ideology in the recent election.

“Congress forms alliances to protect the Constitution, secularism and national unity, while the BJP enters into alliances only for power,” he said.