The NWMI Stands in Solidarity with Banu Mushtaq
The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) condemns the controversy generated over the invitation extended to renowned Kannada writer and International Booker Prize awardee Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the 2025 Mysuru Dasara, Karnataka’s Naada Habba (state festival).
While the festival is clearly rooted in local Hindu traditions, over the years it has acquired a multi-dimensional, inclusive character as a celebration for everyone belonging to this land (naadu). Although religious rituals are part of the Dasara tradition, the 10-day festival is also celebrated with a range of cultural events that attract thousands of tourists from across the world.
It is a sign of our times that the invitation to a Muslim woman writer to inaugurate the festivities this year has been used by certain sections of the political spectrum in the state to whip up a storm and manufacture outrage.
This is not the first time a Muslim has been invited to inaugurate Mysuru Dasara. When the late Kannada poet and writer K.S. Nissar Ahmed inaugurated the event in 2017 there was no major political tug-of-war over his suitability for the role. When Nalwadi Krishnadevaraya Wadiyar got his long-serving (1926-41) and trusted diwan, Mirza Ismail, to accompany him in the Jamboo Savari that marks the grand finale of the Dasara celebrations, the objections raised by some people were promptly dismissed by the then ruler.
However, this year Pratap Simha, a former Member of Parliament representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former journalist, actually filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay on the invitation extended to Banu Mustaq. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the BJP MP representing Mysuru, who had initially welcomed the decision and acknowledged Mushtaq’s literary achievements, subsequently said she needs to clarify her reverence towards Hindu deities.
On the other hand, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, member of the erstwhile royal family and current custodian of the palace traditions, has sought to distinguish between the “secular” and “religious” aspects of the festival, asserting that the government-organised Dasara festivities represent a Samskruthika Acharane (cultural celebration), while the erstwhile royal family performs dharmic rituals privately, in accordance with age-old customs.
It is clear that Banu Mushtaq’s identity as a Muslim and a woman has provided some people with sufficient reason to generate outrage and further polarise society. Unfortunately, a range of politicians in the state have jumped into the fray and contributed to the ugly and vitiated atmosphere in the lead-up to the festival. Media narratives, as well as discussions on social media by some popular Kannada writers, have also served to further fuel the ongoing controversy.
The NWMI strongly condemns the unnecessary, divisive politics created around the welcome invitation to a prominent woman writer of the state who has brought recognition to Kannada literature at the global level. Banu Mushtaq, who was also a journalist, has consistently raised her voice against social evils and oppressive religious beliefs and practices that negatively impact women’s lives in her writings, particularly her short stories.
The title of the book, “Heart Lamp,” the collection of short stories translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, which was selected for the International Booker Prize this year, has a special meaning in the context of the ongoing controversy. In one of the stories in this collection, titled ‘Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord!’, a battered Muslim woman throws a challenge to God that resonates today in the midst of the current furore over religion. In fact, the book’s title, “Heart Lamp,” conveys the need for the lamp of awareness in the midst of the polarising politics practised today.
In her acceptance speech at the Booker award ceremony, Mushtaq said: “In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds, if only for a few pages… Tonight isn’t an endpoint – it’s a torch passed. May it light the way for more stories from unheard corners, more translations that defy borders, and more voices that remind us: the universe fits inside every ‘I.’”
We believe that at times like this it is also important to remember the spirit of Karnataka’s Nada Geethe (state anthem), penned by acclaimed Kannada litterateur and cultural icon Kuvempu (Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa), which described the state as “Sarva janangada shantiya thota’ (a garden of peace for all people).
First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered in Udupi against individuals who allegedly made communal remarks on social media against Banu Mushtaq. Stern action against those who stoke communal fires is a welcome move, and displays a much-needed political will to stand by the invitation to Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the Mysore Dasara.
While standing in solidarity with Banu Mushtaq, the NWMI calls upon members of the public, and representatives of political parties in particular, to exercise restraint, refrain from communal polarisation and uphold the unique and inclusive spirit of the Naada Habba.
The Network of Women in Media, India
10 September 2025
