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Bengaluru, Jul 28: Several state Congress leaders, including its President D K Shivakumar, among others, were detained by police as they tried to march towards Raj Bhavan here against the alleged attempts by BJP to topple the party's government in Rajasthan.

Shivakumar, along with Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, state Congress Working President Eshwar Khandre, Salim Ahmed among others were stopped by the police midway as they marched from KPCC office towards Raj Bhavan.

Congress leaders then staged a dharna at the place where they were stopped. Addressing the gathering, Shivakumar accused the BJP of trying to "murder" democracy by destabilizing and removing elected governments.

"We wanted to protest against it and submit a memorandum to the President through the Governor," but the Karnataka government by using police was not letting them proceed towards Raj Bhavan, he said. "Despite our being a peaceful protest, the police stopped us," he said.

Siddaramaiah, echoing similar views, said peaceful protests against injustice was the right of every citizen. Alleging that the BJP was attempting to destabilise and remove the elected government in Rajasthan as it did in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, he said the Governor's office there (Rajasthan) was being 'misused'.

The Governor was working like an agent of the central government, he charged. He said, despite repeated appeals by the Rajasthan cabinet, the Governor there had not convened the assembly session, for the floor test to take place and for Congress to prove its majority. Police subsequently detained Shivakumar and some other Congress leaders and took them to a nearby police station.

They were later released. Meanwhile, as the Congress' protest amid Covid19 pandemic did not follow social distancing norms, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar hit out at that party's leaders. In a tweet Sudhakar said, for Congress leaders getting publicity was more important than social concerns.

Mangaluru, July 30: The Social Democratic Party of India has condemned the move by the state government to drop a lesson on legendary Mysuru rulers Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan from the class 7 textbook.

The Department of Public Instruction has omitted the chapter from the textbooks of Class 7 in their attempt to reduce syllabus for state board schools by 30 per cent.

The department, however, has decided to retain similar chapters on Tipu Sultan in 6th and 10th Classes, though the syllabus in text books for all classes from 1 to 10th has been trimmed. 

In a media release statement, SDPI State President Ilyas Mohammed Thumbe termed the move as communally motivated. “By dropping the lesson, the BJP-led government is engaged in saffronisation of education,” he alleged.

He said that Tipu was the most prominent freedom fighter, who had given priority to irrigation, rocket technology and harmony. The BJP government is also planning to scrap lessons on the Constitution, secularism and democracy. By twisting history, the BJP is trying to mislead the younger generation, he added.