The Hindu : 'Implement judgments on Datta Peetha'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

'Implement judgments on Datta Peetha'

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE NOV. 22. The President of the BJP State unit, H.N. Ananth Kumar, has reiterated his party's support for a peaceful struggle to resolve the Datta Peetha issue in Chikmagalur district. Noting that various court rulings had upheld the right of the Hindu community to offer prayers at the Peetha, he urged the Government to implement the court directions in this regard.

Mr. Kumar told presspersons here today that the issue involved the right of a community to religious organisation and freedom of speech. He said the Chikmagalur District and Sessions Court had, in 1978, upheld the right of Hindus to offer prayers at the Peetha while disposing of the original suit. The Karnataka High Court had upheld the decision of lower court in 1984.

Describing the Peetha as a symbol of the secular integrity of India, he said the Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the High Court in 1989. The BJP was fully in favour of the implementation of the court rulings in this regard, he said, and urged the State Government to appoint a priest there and also set up a management committee with Hindu and Muslim representatives.

He said that for reasons best known to the Government, the administration of the Datta Peetha was handed over to the Wakf Board in 1974. Following the Sessions Court ruling, the control of the Peetha was supposed to be handed over to the Muzrai Department. However, control was reverted to the department in 2000.

All records, including those of the Mysore rulers, referred to the Datta Peetha by its historical name, "Inam Datta Peetha". The "Shobha Yatra" had been going on "peacefully" since 1997, and religious functions since 1978. The move by the Government to impose curbs on the yatra in such circumstances was incomprehensible, he said.

Asked about the BJP's demand for the ouster of the Superintendent of Police, Seemanth Kumar Singh, for his alleged anti-Hindu stand in the aftermath of the Kalladka incidents, Mr. Kumar said the party had submitted a report to the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani.

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