Yadgir (Karnataka), Aug 26 (IANS) Countering the objections raised against the Karnataka government’s decision to invite Booker awardee Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the upcoming Dussehra festivities, Minister for Public Enterprises Sharanabasappa Darshanapur defended the move, stating that the government has not invited terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Speaking to reporters in Yadgir on Tuesday, Minister Darshanapur, responding to a question on the issue, said, “Let the BJP suggest a name. I have not seen Banu Mushtaq speaking disrespectfully about the language. I have only seen the circulated video clip. Has she said anything bad about Kannada?”

“Does she not deserve to inaugurate the Dussehra festival? She and her family have spoken positively about the Kannada language. There is no issue, and yet this controversy has been raked up. We have not invited Osama bin Laden for the job. If we had invited terrorist Osama bin Laden and objections were raised, then we would have agreed,” Minister Darshanapur stated.

BJP state general secretary and MLA V. Sunil Kumar, while speaking on the issue of Dussehra celebrations being inaugurated by the Booker awardee, said on Tuesday, “The Nada Habba (festival of the land) Dussehra is a festival observed with utmost devotion and reverence by the people of the state. It is the responsibility of a government to decide how such an event should be inaugurated. If idol worship is allowed in Islam, and if Banu Mushtaq accepts it, then we have no objection.”

“On the one hand, they don’t accept idol worship. From Muhammad Ghori to the PFI, history records how Hindu idols were destroyed in temples in opposition to idol worship. The government has dragged this controversy upon itself. Every time, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s intention seems to be to insult Hindus,” he alleged.

Earlier, Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje had stirred controversy by appealing to Banu Mushtaq to stay away from inaugurating the historic Dussehra festivities.

Shobha Karandlaje objected to the Karnataka government’s decision to invite Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate Dussehra, saying, “One who does not believe in the Hindu religion and does not follow the custom of idol worship — what will they do by attending the Dussehra inauguration?”

Amid the row, the Congress-led Karnataka government on Monday extended an invitation to Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate historical Dussehra as a mark of unity.

Government representatives visited the house of Banu Mushtaq in Hassan city and accorded a traditional welcome by presenting her a ‘Bagina’ a gift given on auspicious occasions in Kannada culture comprising of bangles, flowers, bananas, turmeric and vermillion.

–IANS

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