Bengaluru, Aug 15: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday unfurled the tricolour here to mark the 72nd Independence Day celebrations.

Kumaraswamy joined about 8,000 people at the Field Marshal Manekshaw parade ground in the city centre on the occasion.

Under a cloudy sky, an Army helicopter showered rose petals over the podium where the Chief Minister and many VIPs were present.

After receiving salute from the guard of honour contingent, Kumaraswamy went around the rectangular ground in an open jeep and greeted the battalions of armed forces, state reserved police, National Cadet Corps and Bharat Scouts and Guides.

The Chief Minister delivered his I-Day speech in Kannada.

According to reports from across the state, patriotic fervour and gaiety marked I-Day celebrations in various districts where cabinet ministers and Deputy Commissioners unfurled the national flag.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



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.