The Karnataka High Court Monday dismissed a plea filed by Pratap Simha, the former BJP MP from Mysore, against the government’s invitation to Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq for the inauguration of the 2025 Dasara festivities on September 22.
A division bench of the Karnataka High Court, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Joshi, dismissed Simha’s plea after the state Advocate General, K Shashikiran Shetty, argued that the invitation to Banu Mushtaq did not violate the rights of anyone. Shetty also argued that Dasara is a celebration of good over evil and is celebrated by all the people of the state.
Simha filed the petition against the Karnataka Government on September 6, against an invitation to Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the 2025 Dasara festivities in Mysuru. Simha sought a writ of mandamus directing the Karnataka Government to withdraw the invitation extended to Banu Mushtaq.
Subsequently, the Karnataka Government accorded a formal invitation to the writer to inaugurate the Dasara festival.
In his petition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that the inaugural event of Dasara involves offering floral tributes to the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari, and the recital of the Vedas. Accusing Mushtaq of being ‘anti-Hindu’, the former MP contended that the author was not fit to open the event.
He also claimed that members of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru were opposed to the move by the state government, adding that the author had also criticised the Kannada language in the past.
Accusing the BJP of politicising the issue, the Karnataka Government said that the Dasara festival was inaugurated in the past by the renowned Kannada poet Nisar Ahmed, who belonged to a minority community.
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The government said the Dasara festivities in Mysuru were sponsored by it, and that the state had discretionary powers to select any personality from the fields of arts and literature to inaugurate the event.
Banu Mushtaq became the first author writing in Kannada to win the Booker Prize for the translation of her short story collection Heart Lamp.