THE Karnataka government’s invitation to Booker Prize-winning Kannada writer and activist Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the historic Mysuru Dasara festival has drawn the ire of the BJP and right-wing groups, which have questioned her faith in the religious ceremony.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya shared a clip circulated by right-wing groups to allege that Mushtaq’s selection was aimed at targeting the majority community. “The so-called Anti-Communal Task Force, the Hate Speech Bill, the Rohith Vemula Bill pushed at (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi’s insistence, the dubious Dharmasthala SIT and now the Congress government’s decision to have Smt Banu Mushtaq — who has openly expressed her opposition to the worship of Kannada as mother Bhuvaneshwari, objected to the Hindu cultural symbolism associated with the Kannada flag — inaugurate the sacred Dasara Chamundeshwari Pooja — all these are not isolated moves. They are part of a well-orchestrated game plan scripted by urban Naxals and Marxists, executed with the full enthusiasm of (Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah and the Congress state government,” Surya said in a post on X Monday. “We must see through this design and resist it with all our strength,” he said.
The Bangalore South MP told PTI: “We only expect that whoever is called to inaugurate and offer first prayers to Chamundeshwari on Vijayadashami make their belief in Chamundeshwari clear.”
Mushtaq should “declare her reverence, devotion and faith in Mother Chamundeshwari”, he said.
On Monday evening, a video of Mushtaq offering a bagina, a gift for auspicious occasions, as per Hindu traditions was shared on a news channel. “Our religious practices are required for our spiritual growth, which we should practice at home as it is a personal act. In our public relationships, public life, for the development and unity of the country, we should all strive,” Mushtaq said.
She said she respects those who revere Goddess Chamundeshwari, and those who consider Dasara ‘Nada Habba’ (state festival). “Both Nada Habba and devotion for Chamundeshwari are part of our culture, our state,” she said, adding that she respects the festival in which she has participated since she was young.
A 2023 video of the Mushtaq criticising how Kannada was not allowed to grow by keeping groups out, at a literary meet was used to question the government’s selection. In the video she is heard saying, “As a woman from the minority community, I will place my views in front of you about Kannada… To grow Kannada as a language, for Banu Mushtaq or her family to use the language, you did not give an opportunity at all. You made Kannada as Kannada Bhuvaneshwari — a goddess — and made her sit on a pedestal… How should I get involved? My expulsion did not start today. It started long ago and is culminating now,” she said.
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The manner in which woman are accorded divinity and “later subject to subjugation, harassment and torture, you are treating the language in the manner,” she is heard saying in the video.
Former minister and BJP MLC C T Ravi said it is inappropriate for a person whose faith is uncertain to preside over a religious ceremony.
Former Mysuru MP Pratap Simha said that she can preside over a literary event but not Dasara.
BJP state president B Y Vijayendra told reporters that they would welcome Mushtaq inaugurating Dasara if she did so by accepting the traditions and practices of Hindu culture.
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Mushtaq, the first Kannada writer to win the Booker Prize for a compilation of her short stories ‘Heart Lamp’, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, has been a part of various movements fighting religious orthodoxy among Muslims and other communities.
She will be the second Muslim to inaugurate Dasara festival in recent years. In 2017, writer and poet Nisar Ahmed had opened the festival at Mysuru
