While a pro-Hindu group decided to take out the rally protesting the government's invitation to Mushtaq, a Dalit organisation planned a march against attempts to politicise Dasara and stir the communal cauldron.
Published Sep 09, 2025 | 2:26 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 09, 2025 | 2:30 PM
Hindu Jagarana Vedike activists at Kuruburahalli Circle in Mysuru on Tuesday, 9 September.
Synopsis: Despite being denied permission for the rallies, Hindu group activists assembled in large numbers at Kuruburahalli Circle on Tuesday morning, where multiple layers of security cordon were in place. Dalit Mahasabha President S Rajesh also reached the Sangolli Rayanna Circle to lead the harmony march. Police have taken several workers of both groups into preventive custody.
The police have prevented two rallies to the Chamundeshwari Hills in Karnataka’s Mysuru over the participation of International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq in the Dasara festival.
The Karnataka government has invited Mushtaq, who won the Booker Prize 2025, for the English translation of Heart Lamp, to inaugurate the famed Naada Habba Mysuru Dasara festival.
With under a month left for Dasara, protests and counterprotests were being planned in Mysuru.
The Hindu Jagarana Vedike announced that it would hold a “Chamundeshwari Chalo” rally on Tuesday, 9 September, opposing Mushtaq’s inauguration of the Dasara celebrations.
The Dalit Mahasabha wanted to hold a harmony march, also on Tuesday, against what the group said as “attempts to politicise and stir communal riots”. Both rallies were to converge at Chamundeshwari Hills.
The Mysuru police, however, denied permission for any such protest, citing the law and order situation and ongoing Dasara-related works in the area.
Despite being denied permission, Hindu group activists on Tuesday morning assembled in large numbers at Kuruburahalli Circle, where multiple layers of security cordon were in place. Dalit Mahasabha President S Rajesh also reached the Sangolli Rayanna Circle to lead the harmony march.
Some Hindu group activists even attempted to move towards the Hills by breaking through police cordons. Mysuru police took protestors from both groups into preventive custody.
Former BJP MP of Mysuru Pratap Simha was among the protesters who had gathered in the city to protest against Mushtaq inaugurating the Dasara festival. He claimed that the chief minister was running a “Taliban” government.
Banu Mushtaq.
“Siddaramaiah is responsible. They are preventing us from going to the Hills. We have the right to protest as per the Constitution. The government is suppressing our rights,” Simha told reporters on Tuesday.
Simha had approached the Karnataka High Court on Saturday, 6 September, seeking a stay on the government’s invitation to Mushtaq to inaugurate the 10-day state festival, beginning on 22 September.
The controversy stemmed from Mushtaq’s 2023 remarks, which a section of society considered as “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Kannada”.
The former MP claimed that if Mushtaq had apologised for her remarks, they would not have organised the “Chamundeshwari Chalo” programme.
“Dasara is not a secular festival. It is a religious programme,” he claimed.
Simha and other BJP leaders have been referring to portions of Mushtaq’s 2023 Jana Sahitya Sammelana speech, reflecting on the symbolic and cultural appropriation of the Kannada language, as evidence of her alleged hostility to Hindu traditions.
The state government maintained that the Mysuru Dasara festival is open to people from all faiths and not just Hindus alone.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earlier defended his decision to invite Mushtaq, stating, “Mysuru Dasara festival is everyone’s festival — of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, and others. Those who are opposing it do not know its history.”
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
