UDUPI: Expressing that Muslims need not conduct business near Hindu temples, RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat on Tuesday said the religious practice of offering ‘Salam Mangalarathi’ in the name of Tipu Sultan at Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple should stop immediately.
He told reporters at Byndoor, “Opposition leaders should realise that it was the then Congress government led by SM Krishna in 2002 that brought the rule banning Muslim shops within the 100-metre radius of temples. Krishna might have had a reason to bring in the rule,” he said.
He appealed to Hindus to continue their campaign against allowing Muslim vendors near temples. On ‘Salam Mangalarathi’, he said it is an insult to the God as Tipu Sultan was not fair to Hindus. “It is good if the ritual ends at the earliest. The practice might have started unknowingly. Let them start offering the pooja in the name of God instead of Tipu,” he added.