Ban on non-Hindu traders casts shadow over Karnataka’s jatre season

While small traders have been hit, the Govt. has justified the demand of Hindutva groups citing a 2002 rule

The dry months ahead of the monsoons mark the season of temple fairs and chariot festivals in Karnataka, attracting huge crowds that offer an opportunity for small traders, cutting across caste and community lines. However, this year, Hindutva groups have lent a communal colour to the festivities by forcing the local administration and temple committees to bar Muslim shopkeepers from putting up stalls at these events.

During the Kote Marikamba Jatre in Shivamogga in southern Karnataka, which began on March 22, leaders of Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP) and Bajrang Dal succeeded in ensuring that Muslims did not put up shops. Every year, a number of Muslims would not only do small trade but also offer harake (fulfilment of a vow) to the deity. This year, Hindutva leaders allegedly threatened the person who had been awarded the tender to manage stalls, demanding that Muslims should not be allowed to set up stalls. Given the coercion, the person eventually gave up the tender and the festival organizing committee handed over the responsibility to the VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders themselves.

On similar lines, the managing committee of Hosa Marigudi Temple at Kaup in Udupi district too did not allow Muslim traders to put up stalls during the annual “Suggi Mari Pooje” from March 22.

According to Ramesh Hegde, president of the committee, Hindutva organisations had appealed to the committee against allowing Muslims to participate in the auction of stalls allegedly to “counter” the move of Muslim traders who shut down in protest against the Karnataka High Court verdict on hijabs in schools. Later the committee took a decision on the ban “to prevent any law and order issues,” he said.

Members of Hindutwa groups have raised similar demands in several other places in Karnataka. The Government has not stepped in to stop this trend, but cited rules framed in 2002 to justify the demand. Speaking in the Assembly, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs J.C. Madhuswamy cited Rule 31 (12) of Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, 2002, that bar non-Hindus from participating in auction of stalls during jatres.

Indeed, the demand by Hindutva groups is not altogether new, at least in coastal Karnataka. The Mahalingeshwara Temple at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada has been allowing only Hindus to put up their stalls during its annual fair since 2014, citing the same rules. This temple hit the headlines in 2016 due to a controversy over its managing committee printing the name of the then Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, A. B. Ibrahim, in the invitation card for the annual jatra. After a public interest litigation petition was filed before the Karnataka High Court questioning it, the court directed the government to reprint the card, omitting his name. The government admitted that printing the DC’s name was against Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act, 1974.

As the demand for disallowing Muslim traders in temple fairs spreads, what is at stake is not only communal harmony but also business and livelihoods of small traders.