BJP MPs oppose Karnataka CM's invite to Booker Prize recipient Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate Mysuru Dasara

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s invitation to Booker prize recipient Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the upcoming Dasara festivities in Mysuru has sparked resistance from prominent BJP leaders including Lok Sabha members Yaduveer Wadiyar and Tejasvi Surya.

Mushtaq has accepted Siddaramaiah’s invitation and agreed to perform the ritual at the start of the Navaratri festivities next month.

Wadiyar, who is also the royal scion of the Mysuru dynasty, has expressed reservations about invitation. The MP, in a post on X, hailed Mushtaq as a “distinguished writer in her own right and, as the first Kannada author to win the Booker Prize, she has brought great pride to the Kannada literary fraternity.’


He, however, added that he has come to learn that she made certain remarks in the past regarding “Tayi Bhuvaneshwari” (the Goddess Kannadigas associate their language with). “We wish to firmly reiterate that Dasara is not merely a cultural event, but a Hindu Dharmic Utsava - rooted in the Shastra & Puranas and celebrated with grandeur since the days of the Vijayanagara Samrajya and the Mysuru Samsthana. Given this sacred legacy, it is only appropriate that Smt. Mushtaq clarify her reverence towards Tayi Bhuvaneshwari and Tayi Chamundeshwari before consenting to preside as Chief Guest of this year’s Dasara celebrations.”

Tejasvi Surya said Mustaq had openly expressed her opposition to the worship of Kannada as mother Bhuvaneshwari and objected to the Hindu cultural symbolism associated with the Kannada flag. “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 said.

Former BJP MP Pratap Simha said Dasara is not a secular celebration, it is a religious celebration objecting to the invitation being extended to her.