A BJP MLA in Karnataka has warned of ‘action’ against a call by local Hindus and activists that only Hindu traders should be allowed to carry out their businesses during the Subramanya Swamy temple fair in Bengaluru.

Local Hindus, and groups like Bajrang Dal, VHP, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), Rashtra Rakshana Vedike, have demanded that only Hindu traders should be allowed to carry out business during the fair which is held annually at all Subramanya Swamy temples (this year the fair is falling on November 29 – 30) and sees the participation of thousands of devotees.

Opposing this seemingly logical demand, Uday B. Garudachar, the BJP MLA from Chikpet constituency, said there would not be any ‘new rules’ because of this demand by Hindu activists and people of all religions would be permitted to carry out their businesses.

“Only allowing Hindu traders is not tenable. If anyone tries to create problem in the fair, legal action will be initiated against them,” he added.

“We are elected representatives and got elected after getting votes of people belonging to all religions. There is no room for discrimination (sic). The tradition which has been followed for years will be carried forward.”

Expressing their outrage against the decision, the Hindu devotees argued that Hindu traders are not allowed to carry out business during fairs and festivals organized by other religious communities, or even in the surrounding areas of mosques. They challenged the MLA to allow Hindu traders to carry out business near mosques in his Assembly constituency of Chikpet.

Only asking govt. to enforce the law, say Hindu activists

HinduPost spoke to Shri Mohan Gowda, Karnataka state spokesperson of HJS, on the matter. He told us that as per Karnataka’s Religious Endowment Department Act 2002, Hindu temple fairs, which come under the endowment department, should not allow non-Hindus to trade in the temple premises.

He clarified that a movement to only allow Hindu traders in temple fairs, as the existing law mandates, has been launched across the state as the rules are being flouted, often in connivance with government officials. He said that despite the BJP MLA’s threats to Hindus, the pressure mounted by all sections of Hindu samaj ensured that only Hindu traders were seen during the Subramanya Swamy temple fair in Bengaluru this time around.

Shri Gowda informed about an incident where a Muslim trader was found running a stall during the Subramanya Swamy fair in Kodagu, under a fake Hindu identity. The man had managed to procure a fake Aadhar card in the name of a Hindu, but when devotees suspected something was amiss, they probed further and found out his true identity via his UPI payment account name. The temple fair organizers were informed and he was promptly removed.

Another news report informs us about a similar demand by Hindu Jagran Vedike that has called for a ban on non-Hindu traders at Koppal’s Anjanadri temple. “Around Anjanadri mountain, which is a sacred Hindu religious site, many religious paraphernalia are sold and other businesses such as hotels run. In such a holy area, only Hindus should be allowed to trade,” the Vedike’s letter, submitted to Koppal’s District Magistrate read.

A campaign was earlier launched by Hindu groups in coastal Karnataka to keep non-Hindu businesses away from temple fairs. Banners had been put up in Mulki town in March declaring that non-Hindu traders will not be allowed to set up stalls at the Bappanadu temple fair, or at the annual Mari Pooje festival in Kaup, near Mulki.

Not surprisingly, mainstream media outlets like India Today have labelled Shri Gowda’s appeal to the Karnataka govt. to uphold the existing Endowment Act as ‘bizarre’. In the left-liberal universe, Hindus demanding their just rights qualifies as ‘bizarre’.

Conclusion

Hindus are having to fight tooth and nail for something as basic as the right to administer and manage their own religious affairs, and to ensure that the temple/Dharmic ecosystem benefits poor Hindus first and foremost.

This is just another example of the myriad ways in which the Indian Republic treats the Hindu majority as second-class citizens. Many Hindus are still unaware that only Hindu temples and religious institutions are subject to government control; whereas the Constitution grants full autonomy to ‘minorities’ to manage their religious and educational institutions.

And even when they controls temples, governments fail to properly enforce the very provisions of the Endowment Acts as per which they are supposed to govern. Hindu donations are taxed in name of ‘administrative/audit fee’, temple assets are mismanaged (most lands are encroached) and plundered by the state governments as they deem fit. Sadly, even MLAs of ‘Hindu nationalist’ parties like BJP are not immune to the disease of votebank politics and virtue signaling, and fail to uphold this core Hindu interest.

In other southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, many temples have been converted into ‘secular spaces’ due to government control. Supreme Court has also run roughshod over Hindu beliefs by refusing to ban non-Hindus, esepcially adherents of Abrahamic religions which expressly forbid ‘idol worship’, from renting temple-owned shops like in the Srisailam temple complex.

(With IANS inputs)