Reject hate speech Bill or reserve it for President’s consideration: BJP to Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot. (Source: X)

The Karnataka BJP submitted a representation to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Monday, urging him to withhold assent for the Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crime (Prevention) Bill 2025, which the Opposition party said was “indicative of an attempt to disturb the federal balance and suppress dissent.

Arguing that the Bill, passed in the winter session of the legislature, fails to “conform to binding judicial precedents and international constitutional standards”, the petition requested the governor to “reject the Bill in its present form and shape or reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President of India”.

The petition said there are several laws that comprehensively address the issue of hate speech. “In light of this, the enactment of the present Bill appears unnecessary and indicative of an attempt by the State Government to disturb the federal balance and suppress dissent,” the petition said.

The hate speech Bill has attracted opposition from the BJP as well as civil rights groups. The governor, who has cleared 18 of the 22 Bills passed in the winter session, has yet to take a call on this Bill.

Speaking to reporters, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said that if the law was implemented, the police could book anyone based on the instructions of the Government. “This is a Bill that snatches away freedom of speech,” he said.

The BJP also submitted memorandums seeking a CBI probe into the recent Ballari violence and against the government decision to sanction houses for encroachers evicted from Kogilu Layout in Bengaluru.

The BJP said it had “absolutely no confidence in a fair investigation by the local police or the State Government” into the January 1 clash at Ballari in which a Congress worker was shot dead. Highlighting the allegations against local MLA Nara Bharath Reddy in connection with the violence, the BJP accused the Congress Government of being “predetermined to protect the culprits, making a fair and impartial investigation impossible”.

Referring to a fact-finding report of the BJP on the evictions at Kogilu, the party alleged that some of the dwellings demolished were of suspected “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants”. The memorandum requested the governor to direct the Government to “desist from encouraging such illegal encroachment by granting alternate accommodation to the encroachers, at the cost of lakhs of pending applications for housing”.