MANGALURU: With right-wing outfits calling a boycott of non-Hindu vendors at the Navaratri fair at the famous Mangaladevi Temple here, even Hindu vendors are feeling the heat. Business is yet to pick up even three days after the fair began. Given the uneasy atmosphere prevailing in the region, many vendors feel that the trend is unlikely to change for the better during the remaining days of the fair.
A vendor who hails from Shivamogga said that compared to previous years, there is a sharp decline in business this time. “We used to get a lot of non-Hindu customers earlier. But their numbers have reduced now,” he noted. Normally, stalls selling footwear, garments, fancy items, etc. draw people in hordes to the fair. But since a majority of non-Hindu vendors have stayed away, there are very few stalls for these items, making the fair less attractive to customers.
Many vendors, including Sanjeev from Hirur in Haveri district, who runs a fancy shop, confirmed that business is surprisingly dull this time.
On a positive note, temple devotees seem to have given a thumbs down to the VHP and Bajrang Dal’s call to boycott vendors from other faiths. The vendors said they did not feel customers were discriminating against them.
A vendor said a saffron flag was also placed on his stall mistaking him to be a Hindu. Later, right-wing activists politely took it off when he told them he was not one. On the whole, the experience of other faith vendors has been not good. “Earlier a petrol pump located nearby used to provide us with drinking water. But this time, they asked me not to ask for it anymore. Even the temple authorities, who collect rent from us, have not made any provision for drinking water,” said a vendor. Many fear that the hostility they have experienced in Mangaluru might spill over to other temple fairs in the coastal region.