Locals drive out Hindutva outfits seeking to ban non-Hindu vendors at temple fests; BJP MLA changes tune

The locals even chased them out of the village, accusing them of attempting to destroy livelihoods.

The pro-Hindutva vigilantes had arrived at the village armed with banners demanding that temple authorities had to ensure that non-Hindu traders should not be allowed to do business around Hindu temple premises.

Local leaders and village seniors claimed that these so-called activists are indulging in such activities to hog some limelight and get cheap publicity so that they became known faces in public.

“They just move on — creating one scene after the other — after they get to know of the reality that people run business for a livelihood,” said a local villager from the Kuthpadi village.

BJP MLA upholds secularism

Miles away in Bengaluru, a BJP MLA too took a strong stand against Hindutva activists attempting to create divisions.

Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar took a contradictory stance to that of other leaders of his party when he declared that his constituency was “secular”.

Garudachar made a public declaration on Tuesday, 29 November, that anyone, irrespective of their identity, could do business anywhere in his constituency.

The MLA’s statement came after pro-Hindutva activists approached the BBMP and Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Division) P Krishnakant and submitted a petition that non-Hindu traders should not be allowed to do business at the popular VV Puram temple’s Annual Silver Chariot Festival. However, there was no response from the authorities.

Irked by this, around 25 Hindu activists took it upon themselves to come and check the shops at VV Puram’s temple fair on Tuesday. The shopkeepers alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and took the activists into preventive custody.

Later, the MLA of the constituency, Garudachar, said: “There are a lot of people whose livelihoods depend on such temple fests, and this has been an annual affair. No one can put a stop to it as it is a constitutional right. I have seen Hindu businessmen putting up shops/stalls near dargahs and masjids, and nothing like this happens to them.”

Vendors from minority communities targeted

The past week saw a series of incidents involving pro-Hindu activists targeting non-Hindu traders who put up shops near temples in Karnataka. This, even as the state is going to polls in months.

At several temple fests and carnivals over the past week across the state, the police had to intervene when pro-Hindutva activists put up flex banners near temples asking the temple trustees and management to ensure non-Hindu traders were not allowed near temples.

A flex banner at the Anjanadri Hill in Koppal

In Koppal, a group of pro-Hindu activists from the Hindu Jagrana Vedike (HJV) submitted a petition to the Koppal District Authorities — including the Deputy Commissioner (DC) — demanding the banning of non-Hindu traders from setting up shops at the famous Anjanadri Hills in Gangavathi taluk in the district.

The HJV activists mentioned in their petition that the Anjanadri Hills in the heritage site of Hampi in Anegondi was a religious pilgrimage site meant for Hindu devotees.

There are a lot of shops and stalls that sell ritual items like fruits, flowers, coconuts, camphor, diyas, cotton wicks, and sacred threads. There are also a lot of hotels and other commercial establishments that depend on Hindu devotees and tourists that visit Anjanadri Hills.

The activists put up a banner on the way to the hill stating that non-Hindu traders would not be allowed to set up shops in and around the Anjanadri Hills.

The activists also appealed to the district authorities to enforce the demands in the petition, such as the removal of non-Hindu businessmen from the temple hillock vicinity. They said they would resort to protests if this was not done.

However, though the district authorities accepted their petition, they chose to remain silent and did nothing about it, local leader Sudarshan told South First.

The trade by shopkeepers, led by an association at Anjanadri, continued without any hassles, Sudarshan added.

HJV’s petition submitted with the District Authorities in Koppal

In another incident, following the boycott call by pro-Hindu outfits on Muslim traders close to temples and temple fairs in the state, a shopkeeper belonging to the minority community was caught allegedly carrying a fake ID card to carry out business in the Kodagu district.

The shopkeeper was selling sacred threads and some puja items in front of a temple.

He was confronted and termed a “Jihadi” by the pro-Hindu activists, who also made sure that he was removed from the area.

The activists even made a video of their discovery and spread it on social media.

However, the Kodagu police hinted that it could be a case of mistaken identity as well, where Hindu shop or stall owners would employ men from the minority community. The cops said they are looking into the matter.

Neither a complaint was filed nor a case registered in this regard, the police added.

Taking a collective note, pro-Hindu activist and Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik on Wednesday appealed to Karnataka’s Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (The Muzrai Department) that temple management and trustees should have to ensure that non-Hindu traders are not allowed to run their business within a 200-metre radius around any Hindu temple in the state.

Recalling the Mangaluru blast incident, Muthalik said at a public meeting: “Members of the minority community are targeting temples and we need to protect our people’s lives and our temples.”