Karnataka: Chaos at temple during Puja, 50 arrested hundred flee from village fearing police action
Koppal: At least fifty people have been arrested and charged for rioting in Karnataka’s Koppal district after the gates to a temple in Dotihal village were broke open and a chariot was forcibly taken out amidst the restriction under the COVID-19 lockdown.
According to the reports, the local Tahsildar had permitted the annual puja of the temple but with limited entry to the people. The puja was permitted to be held inside the temple.
As the crowd grew to around 50 people the temple doors were shut to stop more people from entering. However, those outside, became agitated, broke open the metal grill that served as a gate and forced the temple chariot out.
By this time an even larger crowd had gathered and police had no option, the SP said, but to resort to a light lathi charge. Having dispersed the crowd, the police then took the chariot back and locked the gates.
Based on the CCTV footage of the incident 50 people were arrested, while several people are said to have fled from the village fearing police action. Only the elderly and women had been left behind by the fleeing men.
G Sangeetha, the SP, said more arrests would be made, adding that the village in question was now almost empty of people - despite having over 7,000 registered voters - as most had run away.
The police will wait until the men returned home, the SP added.
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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.
