In a significant ruling on September 15, the High Court of Karnataka confirmed the State Government’s choice of writer and activist Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the prestigious Mysuru Dasara festival, set to commence on September 22. Mushtaq, whose collection of Kannada short stories recently garnered the international Booker award in 2025, will proceed with the inauguration.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Joshi, delivered the judgment, rejecting petitions filed by former Mysuru Member of Parliament Pratap Simha, along with Girish Kumar T., Sowmya R., and H.S. Gaurav from Bengaluru.
The bench stated, “We are not convinced by the arguments that an invitation to an individual of a different faith violates constitutional or legal rights,” as they announced the operative part of their order.
Pratap Simha had primarily challenged Ms. Mushtaq’s invitation, citing her alleged anti-Hindu and anti-Kannada remarks made at a literary event in 2023. He also argued that she was invited without prior consultation with the representatives of the Mysuru royal family. Simha’s advocate highlighted Ms. Mushtaq’s previous statement at the literary event, where she expressed feeling distanced from Kannada after the language was elevated to the status of a goddess, suggesting a lack of faith in worshipping a Hindu deity. Simha maintained that he would not object to her invitation if she retracted her controversial statements.
The petitioners questioned the State Government’s rationale in inviting a person who purportedly does not believe in worshipping Hindu gods to inaugurate a festival that traditionally begins with the veneration of a goddess, adhering to Hindu rituals.
Conversely, State Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty emphasized that Mr. Simha himself had shared a platform with poet Nissar Ahmed, who inaugurated the Dasara festival in 2017. The Advocate General further pointed out that the State Government had already issued a notification affirming that no individual, regardless of their caste or religion, should be barred from entering any temple, whether under the Muzrai Department or a private institution. He concluded that the government is fulfilling its secular obligation by organizing the Mysuru Dasara festival.