Authorities urged to allow Muslim traders to do business on temple premises in K’taka

Dakshina Kannada, (Karnataka): The sticky issue of the boycott of Muslim traders doing business on the premises of temples has come to the forefront again in Karnataka.

The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Religious Fair Businessmen’s Coordination Committee is demanding that Muslims be allowed to carry on their trade on the premises of temples, while temple managements have continued to impose restrictions on them in the communally sensitive coastal districts.

The committee members had submitted a complaint regarding the boycott of Muslim traders in the Navaratri fare at the historical Mangaladevi Temple in Mangaluru city in Dakshina Kannada district.

The Mangaladevi Temple comes under the Muzarai department of the government and the Navaratri fair will be held between October 15 and October 24.

The temple management had taken a decision not to allow Muslim traders to participate in the fair and initiated the process of allotting stalls to businessmen on the Rathabeedi Street opposite the temple that belongs to the Mangaluru City Corporation. However, for years, the temple management has been organising its fairs here.

Following the hijab row, a boycott call was given by Hindu organisations after Muslim bodies staged a protest against the court order banning the hijab in classrooms.

The BJP government that was in power at that time upheld the right of the temple management to ban Muslim traders from religious fares and temple premises.

Now, with the Congress government assuming power in the state, it remains to be seen how the issue will be sorted.

The committee submitted a complaint against the boycott to the District Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada on Thursday.