A traders’ body in coastal Karnataka has requested district authorities to ensure that Muslim vendors are allowed to sell at temple fairs, from which they were banned by many shrines last year at the behest of Sangh Parivar outfits.

The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Religious Fair Businessmen’s Coordination Committee — which has members from all religions — has made the demand ahead of the festive season of Dasara.

The committee has complained that Muslim vendors have been banned even from the government-run Mangaladevi Temple in Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada.

It has added that several shrines had banned Muslims from bidding for stalls even in public spaces near the temples ahead of religious festivals in summer last year and later during Dasara.

The Mangaladevi Temple’s management recently decided not to allot stalls to Muslim traders even on the street opposite the shrine. “We never faced such a ban until last year when some Hindu organisations objected to Muslim vendors setting up temporary stalls at temple fairs,” committee convener B.K. Imthiyaz told The Telegraph on Saturday.

“But we are now seeking permission (from district authorities in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi) to conduct our business, which is our livelihood.”

The ban on Muslim vendors came at the peak of the hijab controversy in Karnataka, then ruled by the BJP, in summer last year. Hindu organisations projected the ban as retaliation for the total shutdown Muslim groups had enforced in protest against a Karnataka High Court order that upheld the hijab ban at schools and colleges.

The then BJP government had used the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, framed in 2002, to argue that non-Hindus were not allowed to conduct any business inside temple premises.

But Imthiyaz underscored that Muslims were not seeking permission to run stalls inside temple premises.

“All we are asking is for permission to open stalls on public roads that come under the city civic body and not the temples,” he said.

With Dasara set to begin on Sunday, Imthiyaz hoped for a quick response from the district authorities. “Vendors from our community suffered huge losses last year because of the near-blanket ban in many districts,” he said.

He added that at least half the vendors who used to do business at temple fairs in Dakshina Kannada district were Muslim.

“Our body is not limited to the interests of Muslims. Our president is Jain, and there are Hindus and Christians among us who are seeking equal rights in the bidding process for stalls at temple fairs and festivals.”