PM's intervention on Mahadayi water dispute impossible: Jagadish Shettar

The Karnataka BJP, which faced action on Twitter earlier this month over incendiary tweets, this time has passed the blame of Sangh Parivar sponsored Delhi violence to the victims.

In an insensitive tweet on Friday, it dubbed the protests against the notorious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as "fake" and added that the violence that followed was "the most well-planned assault on the Idea of India," in an apparent attempt to portray the victims as villains.

The handle, notorious for tweets targeting Muslims, blamed the clashes that erupted in Delhi between people demonstrating for and against the CAA on "so called 'Peacefuls'" - a known right-wing slur for Muslims.

ZERO - Number of Indians who lost their Citizenship due to the #CAA.

40+ - Number of Indians who lost their lives due to the #CAARiots.

The fake protests against CAA and subsequent riots by the so called Peacefuls are the most well planned assault on the "Idea of India."

— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) February 28, 2020

Many people on social media called out the tweet for misleading people and covering up the role of Delhi BJP leader Kapil Mishra's provocative speech for triggering the violence or the failure of the Delhi Police, which reports to the former BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in controlling the riots.

Earlier this month, the Karnataka BJP had tweeted a video of Muslim women standing in queue to vote in the Delhi elections, showing their voter ID cards, with the snarky caption: "Keep the documents safe, you will need to show them again during NPR (National Population Register) exercise."

Soon after, the party unit's Twitter handle was blocked by the social media platform for 24 hours after many accused it of encouraging Islamophobia.

NPR has been widely criticised by opposition parties as a precursor to the government's planned NRC or National Register of Citizens which intends to make Indians prove their citizenship with documents that many poor or illiterate do not possess.

Many fear that combined with the already imposed CAA - which promises citizenship to only non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh - the NRC can be used to make millions of Muslims stateless.

The government has denied the allegation and said the CAA only intends to help those who have faced religious persecution. In recent weeks, it has gone back on its rhetoric on the NRC which was announced by Amit Shah in parliament as "it will certainly happen".

The CAA, which was cleared by parliament in December, has triggered deadly protests in the country which left at least 25 dead till Sunday. Since then, at least 42 more people have been killed as large-scale violence erupted in northeast Delhi and hundreds of homes and shops have been burned to the ground.

Bengaluru, Jan 10: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday launched 'Sapthapadi', a mass marriage program in Bengaluru.

The state authorities will provide a mangalsutra worth Rs 40,000 and Rs 5,000 to the groom. They will also give Rs 10,000 to the bride after marriage.

The state government has also informed that the department has shortlisted some temples where the mass marriages will be held.

Yediyurappa also confirmed that the government will help communities like Muslim and Christians also to organise mass marriage as per their respective rituals.

According to the state government guidelines, issued last year in November, both parents of the couple should attend the ceremony if the duo wants to avail benefits of this offer but those who want to marry without their parent's permission do not stand a chance here.

Also, those wanting a love marriage will not be able to reap the benefits of the scheme. The plan is to conduct about 1,000 marriages in 90-100 temples.

The couples wanting to tie the knot are expected to register themselves 30 days before the scheduled date in the temple. Following which a list will be prepared.

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 4: Depressed over the communal and racist policies of union government, a 67-year-old retired school headmaster committed suicide allegedly after losing matriculation certificates and documents related to his father.

The victim was identified as Mohammed Ali a resident of Narikunni in Kozhikode district in north Kerala.

On finding Ali missing from home on Friday morning, his family members conducted a search in the nearby areas. His body was later found in a well located in one of his relative’s compound nearby.

A suicide note recovered, suspected to have been written by the victim read, “I have lost all my important certificates. Matriculation certificates of me and my wife. Old documents of my father are also missing. I think all these documents were given away along with the waste recently. None should be held responsible for my foolish act. You may get into trouble.”

According to relatives, Ali was under severe stress after regularly watching programmes related to CAA. He was also actively involved in anti CAA campaign.

“He was worried about the documents and had serious apprehensions about future,” said his younger brother Abdul Nasser.

“After attending an anti CAA meeting in Kozhikode he had shared his apprehensions. He used to frequently discuss the topic with others ,” recollected Jaffer a local resident.

Ali also had health complications. Meanwhile, the local police said that preliminary investigations suggested that the man could have taken the extreme step after losing documents. However, the reason behind the suicide could be said conclusively after detailed probe.