Complete failure of law and order machinery: Congress on Bengaluru violence
Bengaluru: The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the BJP government in Karnataka over the violence in Bengaluru in which three people were killed after police opened fire to quell a mob that went on a rampage irked over a social media post, and said it was a "complete failure of law and order machinery".
Scores, including around 50 policemen, were injured in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night and continued till the wee hours of Wednesday, apparently triggered by the online post.
Bengaluru violence, riots and arson are "reprehensible, condemnable and unacceptable", Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
"It is complete failure of law and order machinery and rule of law. Was Yediyurappa government sleeping or waiting for violence to happen?" Surjewala said in a tweet. "Why did police not act in time? Who is responsible for 3 deaths?" he asked.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal, said the violence in Bengaluru is "unfortunate and condemnable".
"Strict action should be taken against those behind the derogatory post and those who indulged in rioting," he said on Twitter. "Taking law into their hands and destroying public property shouldn't be tolerated. Let peace prevail and let law take its course," Venugopal said.
Three people were killed after police opened fire to quell a mob that went on a rampage in a Bengaluru locality irked over a social media post allegedly put out by a Congress legislator's relative.
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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.
