What did Banu Musthaq say about Kannada Bhuvaneshwari? Video goes viral amid Dusara invite to Booker Prize winner

Amid controversy over  the invitation extended to Booker Prize winner Banu Mustaq to inaugurate this year’s Mysuru Dasara, an earlier remark made by the acclaimed writer over “turning Kannada into deity Kannada Bhuvaneshwari” has gone viral.

Musthaq, while speaking at the People's Literature Festival at Bengaluru, which was organised by leftist supporters, said: "As a minority woman, I will tell you what my perception about the Kannada language is.  I don't know if you will like it or find it difficult. You did not give a chance to Kannada to grow as a language, to Banu Mushtaq, to ​​her family to speak Kannada as a language,” she said.

“You have made Kannada into Bhuvaneshwari. You have given her a red-yellow flag and made her sit on  the throne. Where should I stand, what should I see? My exclusion did not begin now, but has been there for a long time. You need to think about this issue. As soon as a woman is placed on the throne, she is worshipped. You are making Kannadamma sit in the temple,” she said.

After the video went viral, former Mysore MP Pratap Simha shared it on his X handle. The former MP questioned whether Banu, who does not accept Kannada as Bhuvaneshwari, would accept  Chamundeshwari as the goddess of the land.

Simha earlier opined that she could have been chosen to preside over the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana and not Dasara.