Secularism Isn’t Idol Play

Let’s stop pretending. Dasara is a Hindu festival. Chamundi Hills is a Hindu shrine. And Goddess Chamundeshwari is, well, a Hindu goddess. If you strip away the rituals, the idol, the offerings, there is no festival left. Now, Islam — Banu Mushtaq’s faith — says idol worship is haram. Not mildly disapproved, but strictly forbidden. That’s where the problem begins.

So when the government picks Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate Dasara, it is not about Kannada, literature, or global recognition. It is about asking a Muslim writer, who by her religion cannot bow before an idol, to symbolically preside over a celebration of a goddess. It is like asking a vegetarian to open a steakhouse, or better still, a teetotaller to break the first bottle of champagne.

Banu’s defence doesn’t help. She says: “Love Kannada as much as I do, take it to the world as I have, then you may criticise me.” Nice try, but irrelevant. This is not about her love for Kannada. Nobody doubts it. The question is: what has Kannada literature got to do with inaugurating a Hindu religious festival? She is answering the wrong question, and perhaps deliberately so.

DK Shivakumar’s defence is even worse. He insists Chamundi Hills belongs to all faiths. Nonsense. Of course people of all faiths are free to visit. But that does not mean they can lead the rituals. Even in Ayodhya, Muslims can walk in, Christians can walk in, atheists can walk in—but only Hindus perform the aarti. To confuse access with authority is either foolish or dishonest.

Let us call a spade a spade. Hindu groups are not wrong to feel uneasy. This is not politics alone, though politicians will milk it for all it’s worth. It is about coherence. You cannot have someone whose faith forbids idol worship inaugurate a festival that revolves around idol worship. It insults both religions.

Secularism does not mean one faith barging into the rituals of another. It means each practising its own, and respecting the other’s boundaries. Inclusivity does not mean dilution.

By forcing this odd marriage of political correctness and religious ritual, the government has managed to offend Hindus, confuse Muslims, and give opportunists a fresh issue to scream about. A Booker Prize does not make one a priestess, and a politician’s sermon does not make nonsense into truth.

Dasara deserves reverence, not experiments. Leave the goddess to her devotees, and leave the politics at Vidhana Soudha.