Bengaluru violence: Karnataka govt taking steps towards banning SDPI, says Minister
Bengaluru: Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Friday said the state government was taking steps towards banning SDPI, following its "direct involvement" in the recent violence in the city, and all the required information is being collected in this connection.
"Already several SDPI leaders have been arrested (in connection with Bengaluru violence), SDPI's direct involvement in the violence is clear," Ashoka said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said this organisation has to be banned as it is involved in communal clashes, murders and tried to terrorise the people of Bengaluru.
"I have requested the Chief Minister and the Home Minister in this regard (ban) government has taken a step forward on this, the Home Minister is collecting all the information regarding this organisation's involvement in communal riots, attacks," he added.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bomai had on Thursday said the role of SDPI behind mob violence in parts of the state capital, has come to light and investigation will go deep into it and their connections.
Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan too has said the government was also considering banning SDPI.
Noting that the Bengaluru violence was not communal riots, Ashoka said it was not communal violence between communities, but it was a 'pre-planned act'.
"This incident is the resultant of infighting between Congress MLAs and local corporators, also Congress and SDPI a person had contested from SDPI for corporator post and had faced defeat," he claimed.
Muzammil Pasha, the SDPI district secretary who has been arrested in connection with the violence, had unsuccessfully contested Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections earlier.
The Home Minister too has said, local level "political differences" and SDPI's larger conspiracy to disturb law and order were among the reasons behind the recent violence.
The violence in D J Halli and adjoining areas on Tuesday night was unleashed by hundreds of people over an inflammatory social media post allegedly put out by P Naveen, a relative of Pulakeshinagar MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy of Congress.
The MLAs residence and a police station at D J Halli were torched by rioters who also set many police and private vehicles afire, and looted the belongings of the legislator and his sister.
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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.
