The Mahalingeshwara Temple in the Puttur district of Karnataka has restricted the auction of temporary stalls to the Hindu community for the annual Jatra festival to be held in the city. The Annual Jatra festival which will be held in the temple precinct between April 10 to 20 will only Hindus to set up their shops during the ten days.
The Temple administration put out a notice dated March 19, 2022, in the English daily The Hindu to announce the same. In a similar tone, the organising committee of the Kote Marikamba Jatra in Shivamogga had decided to allow only Hindu shopkeepers to set up their shops during the five-day festival beginning on March 22. This move came after Hindu organisations requested the committee to take the decision in the light of the murder of Hindu activist Harsha who was killed by radical Islamists in Shivamogga.
Earlier, the Hosa Marigudi Temple in Karnataka’s Udupi had also decided to allocate shops to only Hindu vendors in its annual fair. The committee had decided to allow stalls for the festival only by Hindus during the annual ‘Suggi Mari Pooja’ after Muslims in the coastal region shut down their shops on March 17 to protest against the Karnataka High Court’s decision on the hijab controversy.
After the temples in Shivamogga and Udupi, The Mahalingeshwara Temple in Puttur has followed the suit. The notice by the temple administration stated that only Hindu vendors will be allowed to participate in the Jothravati festival, which is due in April this year. The pooja in front of the temple during the Jatra will be held on the 29th of May and the temporary shopkeepers to be allotted the space identified by the temple office, the notice read.
