Anti-conversion bill: Complaint lodged against Bommai, other BJP bigwigs for insulting SC/ST

News Network

December 27, 2021

Raichur, Dec 27: A complaint has been lodged against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri and all BJP legislators in connection with presenting of the controversial Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 popularly known as the anti-conversion bill.

The complaint has been lodged by a social activist R. Manaiah with Lingasugur police station in Raichur district, police said on Monday. The complainant has sought legal action against all state BJP honchos in his complaint.

The complainant has stated that the ruling BJP while tabling the Anti-conversion Bill has shown the people of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities in poor light.

"The Anti-conversion Bill has shown the people of these communities as vagabonds, beggars and portrayed them to be the ones who get converted to other religions with the lure of money, cloth, enticements and acts of donations," the complainant stated.

The complaint has sought action in this backdrop for portraying particular communities in bad light in the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill recently presented in the Assembly session.

When the Bill was presented by the state Home Minister Araga Jnaendra, all BJP MLA's banged on their desks in the Assembly welcoming the Bill in the House. The complainant has sought in the complaint that action should be initiated against the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and others.

The complainant has asked for registration of the case against all of them under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The controversial Anti-conversion Bill was passed by voice vote in the Assembly on December 23 in the recently concluded Belagavi winter session. The Bill is yet to be presented in the council. Law Minister Madhu Swamy has stated that the government has an option to get the Bill passed in the council during the next legislature session to be held in January or February of 2022. In case of delay of session, the option of promulgating the ordinance will be taken.

The government can promulgate an ordinance of the pending Bill if it is not rejected in any of one of the two Houses. But, it must get the approval of the legislature for the Bill in the immediate next session after promulgating the ordinance.

Meanwhile, the Congress has announced that it would do whatever it takes to defeat the Bill even after promulgation of the ordinance. The party has also stated that it would repeal the Bill as soon as it comes to power.

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IndiGo CEO says less than 1,000 cancellations on Dec 6; normalcy by Dec 15

News Network

December 5,2025

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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