A senior BJP legislator has urged the Karnataka government to end its silence on Muslim vendors being prohibited from conducting business near temples during festivals.

“What kind of madness is this? No God or religion has told you not to allow others (to set up shops),” said A.H.Vishwanath, a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council.

“The government must intervene in this. I don’t know why the government is mum over this issue. Aren’t they (Muslims) also Kannadigas?” Vishwanath said while questioning the government’s silence on Sangh parivar organisations forcing temple authorities to ban Muslims from setting up temporary shops during temple festivals.

Asked what he would do if the government failed to intervene in the matter, Vishwanath said: “The government has to take action. If not, the people will.”

Several temples across the state have now banned Muslim traders from taking part in the auction of retail outlets that spring up during the annual festivals that run from March to May.

“What is all this? Muslims are not supposed to trade there or run a hotel here…. This is a sorry state of affairs,” the legislator said, urging the government to act immediately.

A former state president of Janata Dal Secular who previously had a long stint in the Congress, Vishwanath was among the 16 lawmakers from the JDS-Congress coalition to join the BJP, bringing down the government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy in 2019.

Vishwanath said a large number of Indians were employed overseas, especially in Muslim countries, and wondered what would happen if these countries started driving out Indian nationals. “How many of us are living in England, America and especially in Muslim countries? Where will they go if something happens?” he said.

“The Muslims of this country stayed back when India and Pakistan were (formed). We need to understand that they did not go with (Mohammed Ali) Jinnah. They are born Indians,” he added.

Questioning the rationale behind preventing Muslims from earning their livelihood, he said: “Throw away your religion and caste if there is nothing for the stomach (means of livelihood).”

The Karnataka unit of People’s Union For Civil Liberties on Monday urged the state government to ensure that the decision by temple authorities to ban Muslim vendors be immediately withdrawn and initiate criminal proceedings against organisations calling for the economic boycott of Muslims.

“The call for social and economic boycott should deeply worry all Indians because of the tragic history of the aftermath of such boycott calls in world history. In Nazi Germany, hate speech dehumanising the Jewish community was followed by calls for social and economic boycott, which was followed by the enactment of laws depriving Jews of citizenship and finally the genocide against the Jews,” a PUCL statement noted.

“Rwanda and Myanmar followed a similar path in their path to committing the ‘crime of crimes’, genocide. We should take seriously these warnings from history and silence is not an option for any constitutional authority,” it noted, citing the unconstitutionality of such boycotts in India.