Amid row over inauguration invite, Banu Mushtaq affirms reverence for Mysuru Dasara

Banu Mushtaq (Image: X)

International Booker Prize laureate Banu Mushtaq, chosen to inaugurate the ‘Mysuru Dasara-2025’, affirmed her respect for the festival and Goddess Chamundeshwari. This comes amid objections from BJP leaders over Karnataka government’s decision to invite her to inaugurate the Dasara festivities.

Many BJP leaders urged on Monday that Mushtaq explicitly state her reverence for Goddess Chamundeshwari before presiding over the Dasara inauguration.

"It (invitation to inaugurate Dasara) is definitely a happy thing. We can see this in various ways. You call Chamundeshwari Taayi (mother Chamundeshwari), I respect your feelings. Many call it Naada Habba (state festival), I respect that too," Mushtaq said, according to news agency PTI.

She said, "Calling Dasara as Naada Habba or calling goddess Chamundeshwari Taayi (mother) with a lot of affection and love, all these are part of our culture and this state. So this festival is something that I too like and respect, and participate with affection."

"As a child, I had been to Dasara with my parents to witness 'Jamboo Savari' (a march of about a dozen caparisoned elephants as part on procession on Vijaydashami). This time I have got the invite to inaugurate the Dasara, it is extremely a happy thing for me," Mushtaq added.

Bengaluru South MP and Bharatiya Janayat Yuva Morcha national president Tejasvi Surya targeted Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for selecting her to inaugurate the Dasara festivities.

In a post on ‘X’, Surya said, "The so-called Anti-Communal Task Force, the Hate Speech Bill, the Rohith Vemula Bill pushed at Rahul Gandhi’s insistence, the dubious Dharmasthala SIT, and now the Congress government’s decision to have Smt. Banu Mustaq - who has openly expressed her opposition to the worship of Kannada as mother Bhuvaneshwari, objected to the Hindu cultural symbolism associated with the Kannada flag - inaugurate the sacred Dasara Chamundeshwari Pooja - all these are not isolated moves." "They are part of a single, well-orchestrated game plan scripted by urban naxals and Marxists, executed with the full enthusiasm of Siddaramaiah and the Congress state government. We must see through this design and resist it with all our strength," he added.

The MP posted Mushtaq’s video clip on his social media handle where she is heard opposing the alleged personification of Kannada language as a 'Goddess Bhuvaneshwari' who is seated in a throne inside a temple.

"I don’t know whether it will please or displease you but as a woman from the minority community, I will present before you my understanding about the Kannada language. You did not give an opportunity for Kannada to grow as a language, for Banu Mushtaq or her family to speak Kannada as a language," she is heard saying in a purported video in 2023.

Karnataka Ministers G Parameshwara and H C Mahadevappa said there was nothing wrong in inviting Mushtaq since Dasara is a state festival.

"Did Nisar Ahmed inaugurate Dasara festivities? We don’t see caste and religion during state festival," Parameshwara told reporters in Mysuru.