'Don't buy Hindu God idols from Muslim sculptors': Fringe issues new diktat in Karnataka

state of Karnataka, which has been witnessing severe polarisation in recent times, has been embroiled in a fresh controversy, with Hindu outfits calling on people to stop buying idols from Muslim sculptors. Srinivas Guruji, a seer from Melukote Cheluvanarayanaswamy temple has requested Hindu communities to boycott purchase of idols that are sculpted by Muslims. 

He claimed that according to Vedas and Shastras, idols of Hindus gods and goddesses should be sculpted by members of Vishwakarma community, who know Vedas and Shastras. A statewide campaign will be launched on April 15th in this regard, he said. 

Hijab & Halal row in Karnataka

call to boycott Muslim sculptors comes amid similar demands against interest of Muslims in state. Earlier, Hindu activists h demanded boycott of halal meat, with BJP leer CT Ravi terming its sale as 'economic Jih'. 

Following call to boycott, many shop-owners changed ir signboards from ‘Halal’ to ‘Jhatka’ and crowd around Hindu meat shops also began to surge.

After anti-halal meat campaign, right-wing groups Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena demanded that loudspeakers be banned in mosques. y threatened to play Bhajans at 5 AM as a protest against Azaan from loudspeakers of mosques. This move was first called for by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) he Raj Thackeray on April 2.

Karnataka has been embroiled in back-to-back controversies in recent past ever since hijab protests broke out in state. On March 15, Karnataka High Court ruled that Hijab is not an essential religious practice. It was hearing plea of students of Government PU College for Girls, Udupi, who sought permission to attend classes wearing a Hijab.

Weeks later, anor controversy erupted over temple authorities not giving tenders to Muslim shopkeepers for opening stalls during festivals.