Bengaluru: Muslim DC's name on shrine invite stirs row

Mangaluru: Giving another twist to the controversy over a Muslim officer being invited to an event by the  Puttur Sri Mahalingeshwar temple, Congress MLA, Shakunthala Shetty has asked officials to “settle the problem,” and warned she would otherwise herself have new invitation cards printed with the officer’s name omitted.

“I am not giving in to pressure from saffron outfits. But I do not want any confusion during the celebrations.  I have asked officials to get a new invitation card printed. If they don’t I will myself have the new cards printed without mentioning the Deputy Commissioner's name,” the MLA said.

The Sangh Parivar  has objected to Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim’s name finding mention as one of the hosts of the event in the temple’s invitation card, arguing that this goes against the Endowment Act .

“We do not want a Muslim to invite devotees to the temple. This is a clear violation of  the  Endowment Act which says a non- Hindu cannot be involved in the temple’s affairs,” said VHP leader and advocate Jagadish Shenava, speaking to the Deccan Chronicle. “We are not against the DC coming to the temple as a guest, but he should not be a host,” he added.

“Mr Ibrahim is neither the Executive Officer nor the administrator of the temple. He is just the DC of the district. He could have been mentioned as a guest but not as a host,” argreed another Sangh leader.

While progressive thinkers are angry with saffron outfits for making an issue of the temple invitation, Mr Ibrahim preferred not to comment on the issue.
“I don’t think it (his name being mentioned in the invitation) is a violation of any law, but I prefer not to speak on this,” he said, when contacted.