Bengaluru: When Banu Mushtaq received the 2025 Booker Prize, there was a barrage of congratulatory messages from all sections of Kannadigas. She was known as the ‘Satisfaction of Karnataka’, with no point out of her being Muslim.

However this was short-lived. Quickly after Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah introduced her to be the chief visitor at this yr’s Dasara occasion, her id as a Muslim turned the point of interest of each reference made concerning the 77-year-old author.

This triggered a debate round Dasara, the alleged Hinduisation of Kannada, Muslim appeasement and numerous different points that stirred the communal cauldron.

Having been a goal of ‘maulvis’ her whole life over her writings which known as for extra freedom for Muslim girls, Mushtaq is as soon as once more dealing with scrutiny. This time the criticism is coming from the political class, particularly the BJP’s ecosystem.

Mockingly, these are sometimes the identical leaders who’ve beforehand introduced her as a progressive voice, aligning with the BJP’s narrative of empowering Muslim girls, together with their stance on banning Triple Talaq.

Her achievement because the first-ever creator writing in Kannada to win the distinguished award now appears to matter little. After the primary flurry of award ceremonies, felicitations by numerous teams, she has now retracted right into a shell.

“It’s only (a) quick time period break in order that the communal agenda mustn’t get a possibility to rake up the difficulty as soon as once more,” she instructed ThePrint.

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‘Ploy to exclude me from Kannada’

Mushtaq grew up because the darling daughter to a doting father. She remembers in a number of interviews how her father inspired her to review. A well being inspector within the authorities, her father needed to transfer round fairly a bit, however her training was undisturbed at an Urdu faculty in Arsikere in Hassan district.

However when her father was transferred, she moved to a Christian-run Kannada faculty in Shivamogga. The only real situation was that she be taught the Kannada alphabet inside six months. The skepticism of the varsity was primarily based on the idea that Muslims had been reluctant to review Kannada because the latter was projected as a “Hindu language”, she remembers.

This assertion has reappeared with Simha and several other others reposting a 2023 video clip of hers at a literary occasion. Within the occasion, she laments how Kannada was likened to Tayi (Goddess) Bhuvaneshwari and even the state flag was vermillion and turmeric, believed to exclude individuals from different communities.

“This ploy to exclude me (largely referring to minorities) began a very long time in the past,” she mentioned whereas addressing the gathering on the Jana Sahithya Sammelana in 2023.

Muslims in Karnataka converse Kannada, however are extra inclined to talking Urdu or the Dakhini model of the language. Nonetheless, Karnataka additionally has a wealthy tradition of Muslims who’ve contributed immensely to Kannada literature.

This consists of Sara Abubakar, Nissar Ahmed, Bolwar Mahamad Kunhi and Mushtaq herself amongst a number of others. Lots of them used Kannada to articulate the intricacies, challenges and issues of the Muslim group.

Mushtaq was additionally a part of a gaggle known as the ‘Bandaya Sahitya Sanghatane’ that loosely interprets to ‘organisation of insurgent littérateurs’ comparable to Baraguru Ramchandrappa, Ramzan Darga, and Kalegowda Nagawara amongst others.

Mushtaq cultivated a brand new fashion of writing that will use Kannada to precise the custom and hardships of Muslims. One such writing ‘Karinagagalu’ (Black Cobras), was tailored into the acclaimed 2004 Kannada function movie ‘Hasina’, directed by Girish Kasaravalli. Kannada actress Tara (now a BJP chief), went on to win a nationwide movie award for her portrayal of the protagonist.

‘Trolled for my views’

Mushtaq has typically equated the caste system of Hindus that excluded Dalits to that of Muslim girls, who weren’t allowed entry to any leisure or, for that matter, even to wish at mosques.

It was within the early Nineteen Eighties that she first confronted the wrath of the group when she backed the stand of one other Muslim girl, Najma Bhangi. A highschool instructor, Bhangi had refused to comply with the principles laid down by maulvis, forbidding Muslim girls from watching films.

In an interview with New Age Islam in 2010, she recalled this incident and the way she questioned the restrictions imposed by the maulvis. “If Muslim girls are banned from watching films, what supply of leisure would they contemplate permissible for them? Did they deserve any leisure in any respect or not? Did Islam enable for it or not? If watching movies was, as they claimed, dangerous for Muslim girls, was it not equally dangerous for Muslim males? Why forbid solely Muslim girls from watching films and exempt Muslim males? If films promoted immorality, absolutely this utilized as a lot to males because it did to girls?” she was quoted as asking.

She additionally wrote to Lankesh Patrike—a progressive Kannada information weekly—lashing out on the maulvis, questioning their guidelines that had been solely for ladies however conveniently ignored for males.

Although she had written many such letters to numerous publications, Lankesh Patrike determined to publish this text. Her father was pulled up by members of the group, however Mushtaq obtained her first job because the weekly’s reporter from Hassan.

In line with her dialog with TheFrontline, within the late 90s and early 2000s, she was compelled to stay indoors after Mushtaq advocated for the rights of Muslim girls to wish at mosques.

“I used to be trolled very badly and abused. Verbally, they raped me like something! I couldn’t tolerate the abuse. I misplaced confidence in myself,” Mushtaq remembers the time in her interview with TheFrontline.

Virtually twenty years later, Mushtaq finds herself in an analogous place.

‘Govt didn’t apply its thoughts on Dasara chief visitor’

Mushtaq has caught up within the political crossfire after she was named because the chief visitor for this yr’s Dasara. Although the creator has not likely hit out at individuals questioning Siddaramaiah’s selection, it’s the statements made by political leaders which have fuelled the hearth round Dasara—an annual 10-day occasion celebrated with nice gusto and fervour in Karnataka for no less than the final 4 centuries.

The Mysuru Dasara begins with choices to lord Chamundeshwari. The 9 nights are known as Navratri and the final day is Vijayadashmi.

Karnataka Deputy CM D.Okay. Shivakumar’s assertion that the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysuru “shouldn’t be the unique property of the Hindus” and that Dasara “isn’t just a Hindu pageant”, have since fuelled the already raging hearth.

“I don’t suppose the federal government utilized its thoughts and thought it by when it invited Banu Mushatq, nor did it anticipate such opposition,” Sugata Srinivasaraju, creator and analyst, instructed ThePrint.

He added {that a} political get together can’t take a “very strict constitutional place” on a spiritual or cultural occasion, and it has entangled the Congress in a bind.

“It (Banu Mushtaq controversy) was not within the minds of the individuals. If the BJP had not made this into an issue, I don’t suppose the individuals of Mysuru would have mentioned that (inviting) Banu Mushtaq was a foul concept,” he mentioned, emphasising that the difficulty has gained political color.

The controversy has added to the BJP’s narrative that the ruling Congress get together goes after Hindu locations of worship in its efforts to appease Muslims.

Already, the BJP has demanded the Siddaramaiah authorities appoint a particular investigation workforce (SIT) to probe the Dharmasthala ‘mass-burial’ case.

Now the controversy round Dasara is one other chapter within the ‘Muslim appeasement’ narrative. And Banu Mushtaq is correct within the centre of it.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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