Devotees should choose the shops displaying saffron flags : VHP

• Issue of allowing only Hindu traders to set stalls in Shri Mangaladevi Temple area at Mangaluru (Karnataka)
   
• District Administration grants permission to a few Muslim traders to take part in the auction

Mangaluru (Karnataka) – Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists have displayed saffron flags on the shops set up by Hindu traders on the premises of Shri Mangaladevi Temple. It will help devotees to know which shop is owned by Hindus. HK Purushothama, the District President of VHP for Dakshina Kannada District said that only Hindu traders should be allowed to set up shops on all temple premises in the district, during Hindu festivals on temple premises.

Purushothama said further that it was not right for the District Administration to give spaces to non-Hindu traders to set up shops. Under ‘the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997’, there is no provision for granting permission to non-Hindu communities to conduct business on Hindu temple premises.

On the other hand, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District Festival Traders Coordination Committee staged demonstrations on the 13 th of October 2023 in support of Muslim traders; therefore, the District Administration has allowed a few Muslim traders to take part in the public auction to be held for setting up shops in temple premises.

DYFI, the Muslim political party, objects to VHP

DYFI, a political arm of the Jihadi organisation ‘Popular Front of India’, has opposed VHP, stating that VHP was trying to create enmity between poor Hindu and Muslim traders. The District Administration should try to make arrangements for the security of the traders in temple areas.

Editorial Perspective

Are Hindus permitted to set up stalls during Muslim Urus or their other festivals ? Shame on the Mangaluru District Administration for making such an anti-Hindu decision.