Chikkamagaluru: Although its been over a year since the Supreme Court directed the state government to amicably resolve the dispute over the Bababudangiri shrine between Hindus and Muslims in Chikkamagaluru, little has been done to bring the warring groups to sit across a table and talk.
Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar was reportedly asked to verify documents relating to Datta Peeta and hold a public hearing on the issue, but he has done neither.
The court’s order asking the government to resolve the sensitive dispute was given on September 3, 2015 and the fact that it has not complied yet has given rise to suspicion that it wants to skirt the issue entirely. State secretary of the Karnatakla Komu Souharda Vedike Ghouse Mohiudduin believes that the government has no intention of resolving the Datta Peeta issue.
“It might just want to drag it till it completes its term,” he added. Recalling that Vedike members journalist Gowri Lankesh and advocate A.K. Subbaiah and others had met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and appealed to him to resolve the Datta Peeta, Mr Moinuddin said they would meet him again.
He warned that the delay in resolving the dispute would give the BJP an opportunity to play on religious sentiments in the 2018 state assembly polls.
But Chikkamagaluru Congress unit president Vijaykumar claimed the government was giving the Datta Peeta issue priority and would deal with in the near future.
He also didn’t think the delay in tackling the dispute would let the BJP gain political mileage from it. “Voters are educated and cannot be easily fooled,” he maintained.
