BJP leaders question Booker Prize-winning author Banu Mushtaq inaugurating Dasara festival
Bengaluru(PTI): Senior BJP leaders and an MLA expelled from the saffron party have questioned the Karnataka government's decision to have Booker Prize-winning author and activist Banu Mushtaq inaugurate the world-famous Mysuru Dasara festivities this year.
Former minister and BJP MLC C T Ravi said it is inappropriate for a person whose faith is uncertain to preside over a religious ceremony.
Former Mysuru MP Pratap Simha said that she can preside over a literary event but not Dasara.
"I personally respect Banu Mushtaq for her achievement. It is acceptable when she chairs the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana but not Dasara, a Hindu religious event which starts with offering pooja to Goddess Chamundeshwari. Does she have faith in Chamundeshwari Devi? Is she following our traditions?" Simha said while speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Sunday.
MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who was expelled from BJP, who represents Vijayapura, said in a post on X, "I personally hold respect for Banu Mushtaq madam as a writer and activist. However, her inaugurating Dasara by offering flowers and lighting the lamp to Goddess Chamundeshwari seems to be in conflict with her own religious beliefs".
He said, "Madam needs to clarify whether she continues to follow Islam, which emphasizes belief in only one God and one holy book, or whether she now believes that all paths ultimately lead to the same moksha."
He added that such clarity was essential before she presides over the inaugural rituals.
"Without such clarity, it does not appear appropriate for Banu Mushtaq madam to inaugurate Dasara. She may certainly inaugurate cultural or literary events within Dasara festivities, but the religious inauguration of Dasara itself should be refrained from," Yatnal said, using the hashtag #KarnatakaDasara2025.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently announced that Banu Mushtaq would inaugurate the Nada Habba (state festival) Dasara celebrations in Mysuru, which traditionally begin with rituals at the Chamundi Hill temple.
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PM Modi, myself don't have 'wife issue': Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): In a friendly banter, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he didn’t have "the wife issue", as the Congress MP emphasised that everyone has learnt from women in their lives.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments to the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Gandhi said women are a driving force in the national imagination and national perspective.
"All of us in this room have been influenced, taught, and have learnt a lot from women in our lives – from mothers, sisters, wives," Gandhi said.
"Of course, the prime minister and myself don't have the wife issue, so we don't get that input, but we have our mothers and sisters," he said while referring to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju's light-hearted remark that he got a scolding at home as he did not pen a poem for his wife like Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal did.
Gandhi also lauded his sister and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
"Yesterday, I was watching my sister achieve in five minutes what I have not been able to do in 20 years of my political career – make Amit Shah Ji smile," Gandhi said to peals of laughter.
