BJP leaders to meet Governor on hate speech Bill

The Opposition BJP has decided to take a delegation of its leaders to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to appeal to him to desist from giving his consent to the Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2025, that was adopted in the Winter Session of the State Legislature held recently in Belagavi.

Announcing this while participating in a protest being staged by the party in front of tahsildar’s office in Shikaripura of Shivamogga district against the Bill, BJP State president B. Y. Vijayendra said the party delegation would be taken out to the Raj Bhavan next week.

The BJP staged protests against the Bill in different parts of the State on Tuesday and petitioned the district and taluk magistrates against the Bill. In Bengaluru, such petitions were also submitted to the Governor and the Chief Minister through the Deputy Commissioner.

The protesters termed the Bill as anti-democratic and being opposed to the provisions of freedom of speech.