BANGALORE: The state government is ready to abolish the Made Made Snana practice being observed at Kukke Subrahmanya temple through consensus and not through force. Endowment Minister V S Acharya told the Legislative Assembly on Friday that the government was not in favour of the practice and it wanted this inhuman practice banned. “But it should be done by creating awareness among people who have been practising it for several decades and not by using force,” Acharya said.
The government had begun the process of convincing people on the ill- effects of the practice, he added. Acharya’s reply came following Congress member V Srinivas Prasad’s demand to the government to make its stand clear on the Made Snana ritual, terming it an “inhuman, shameful and an anti-Constitutional act”.
Taking objection to the alleged pro-Made Snana stand taken by Acharya, Prasad accused the former of behaving like a “hardcore Hindu fundamentalist”. “Don’t forget that you are a Minister and you have to abide by the Constitution,” Prasad said. Intervening in the debate, state BJP president K S Eshwarappa took strong objection to Prasad for likening Acharya to a Hindu fundamentalist and said: “A systematic effort is being made to portray the Hindu community as being in favour of Made Made Snana practice. Hindus have always been against such practices observed by any community.”
He also took objection to Vishwesha Teertha Swami of Udupi Pejawar Mutt being criticised on the issue. “The Swamiji is being criticised by so-called rationalists and intellectuals,” he added.